Search

Athetis lepigone (Moschler) is a new agronomic pest which has caused serious damages to summer maize in China. In order to effectively monitor it, it is necessary to carry-out a worldwide investigation on its potential geographical distribution. In this study, we give two ecological niche models, Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Production and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt), to predict the potential geographical distribution of A. lepigone. The results indicate that the suitable areas for A. lepigone are mainly in China (Beijing, Tianjin, central and southern Hebei, northern Jiangsu, Shandong, most of Henan, northern Anhui, central and southern Shanxi, central and southern Shaanxi, small parts of north-west in Hubei, eastern Gansu, parts of Ningxia, western of Xinjiang and Dandong, and Liaoning) and other Asian countries (South Korea, North Korea and Japan). Parts of Europe (south-western Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, parts of Austria, western Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, northern Italy, Denmark, western Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, southern Finland and Sweden) are also highly suitable for A. lepigone. In addition, in the states of the USA including Michigan, New York, Chicago, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana are also favourable for its occurrence although till now no reports about of this species has been recorded. A jackknife test in MaxEnt showed that the mean temperature of the driest quarter was the most important environmental variable affecting the distribution of this pest.

Summary What is known and Objective: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) are among the most commonly used antihypertensive agents worldwide. Factors associated with their discontinuation in clinical practice are not well defined as studies undertaken in different ethnic populations have yielded conflicting result. We aimed to identify predictors of ACEI discontinuation among Chinese patients. Methods: We used a validated clinical database for this cohort study. We included all adult patients aged ≥18 years who visited any primary care clinic in one Territory of Hong Kong and who were prescribed an ACEI from January 2004 to June 2007. The cumulative incidence of discontinuation 180 days after prescription of an ACEI was measured. Factors associated with discontinuation were evaluated by multiple regression analyses. Results: Among 9398 eligible patients, 14·0% discontinued their prescriptions. After controlling for patient’s age, gender, socio-economic status, service type, district of residence, visit type and number of comorbidities, patients aged 70 or above [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1·27, 95% CI 1·04–1·56, P = 0·022], male subjects (AOR = 1·21, 95% CI 1·05–1·40, P = 0·008), new visitors (AOR = 0·64, 95% CI 0·55–0·75, P

SUMMARY Aims: Dyslipidaemia is a poorly-controlled condition in clinical practice largely because of poor adherence to medication regimens by patients. This study evaluated the levels of and factors associated with adherence to lipid-lowering agents in a large Chinese population. Methods: From a validated clinical database, we included all patients who attended any public, primary care clinics in one large Territory of Hong Kong for medication refill at least twice during the study period January 2004 to June 2007. The major outcome variable was Medication Possession Ratio (MPR), an internationally-recognised metric to measure drug adherence. The factors associated with optimal drug adherence (MPR ‡ 0.8) were evaluated by multivariate regression analysis. Results: From 11,042 eligible patients, 90% were adherent. After adjusting for patients’ age, gender, socioeconomic status, service type, district of residence, visit type (new visits vs. follow-up visits), the number of comorbidities and the drug class (statin vs. fibrates), older patients [aged 50‐59 years; adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.30, p = 0.009; 60‐69 years; AOR 1.53, p < 0.001; ‡ 70 years; AOR 1.72, p < 0.001], attendance in family medicine specialist clinics (FMSC; AOR 1.56, p < 0.001), follow-up visits (AOR 2.93, p < 0.001) and the presence of comorbidities (one comorbidity; AOR 1.45, p < 0.001; ‡ 2 comorbidities; AOR 1.56, p < 0.001) were associated with optimal drug adherence. Discussion and Conclusion: These findings carry an implication that younger subjects, new patients, visitors in clinics other than FMSC and those without comorbidities should receive more meticulous monitoring of their medication-taking behaviour. Future studies should evaluate the major reasons for nonadherence among them. What’s known Dyslipidaemia is one of the most common disorders encountered in patient consultations and nonadherence to lipid-lowering agents could lead to adverse clinical outcomes. There are very few largescale studies evaluating the levels of ‐ and factors associated with ‐ adherence to these medications, which are crucial to inform clinical practice.

Summary What is known and Objective: Good compliance to anti-hypertensive medications has been recognized as a crucial factor to achieve optimal blood pressure control, but there were few studies addressing this issue among ethnic Chinese patients. This study aims to evaluate the factors associated with compliance to thiazide diuretics in a Chinese hypertensive population. Methods: From a clinical database, all adult Chinese patients aged ≥18 years who were prescribed a thiazide diuretic from the public health care sector in one large Territory of Hong Kong during January 2004 to June 2007 and attended at least twice for anti-hypertensive drug refill were included. Medication Possession Ratios were used to measure drug compliance for each patient, with a level ≥80% defined as compliant. We used binary logistic regression analysis to evaluate the factors associated with good compliance. Results and Discussion: From 8551 eligible patients, 84·5% were compliant (defined as MPR ≥ 80%). Fee payers (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1·28; 95% CI 1·12–1·46, P

Few studies address the profiles of antihypertensive compliance among ethnic Chinese. The levels of and factors associated with antihypertensive drug compliance among Chinese patients were evaluated in this study.All Chinese hypertensive patients who paid at least two consecutive visits in any government primary care clinics for antihypertensive drug refill in a large territory of Hong Kong from January 2004 to June 2007 were included. Medication possession ratio (MPR), defined as the ratio of total days of medication supplied (not including the last prescription) to total days in a period of time, was used a measure of drug compliance.From 83,884 eligible patients, 71,685 (85.5%) had good compliance to antihypertensive drugs (MPRor=80%). Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted, with good compliance as the outcome variable while controlling for potential confounders. Advanced age (adjusted ORs (aOR) 1.36-1.55, p0.001), female gender (aOR for male patients 0.84, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.87, p0.001), payment of fees (aOR 1.14, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.19, p0.001), attendance in family medicine specialist clinic (aOR 1.52, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.66, p0.001), follow-up visits (aOR 3.21, 95% CI 3.06 to 3.36, p0.001) and use of drugs acting on the renin-angiotensin system (aOR 1.18, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.30, p=0.001) were positively associated with good compliance to drugs. Use of β-blockers was negatively associated with drug compliance (aOR 0.78, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.84, p0.001).Physicians should practice caution when prescribing antihypertensive drugs to patients with these factors where closer monitoring of their compliance patterns is warranted.

In this report, two mode converters are designed and fabricated to extract TE 41 and TE 01 modes for the generations of 0.4 THz and 1 THz signal by high-harmonic interaction with gyrating electron beam, respectively. The purities of the desired modes in these two converters are both higher than 90% with remarkably broad bandwidth (380 GHz to 420 GHz for TE 41 mode and 910GHz to 995 GHz for TE 01 mode). Since the geometrical aspect ratios of the designed mode converters are both larger than 5, it is too difficult to realize them by the traditional machining processes and UV lithography. We therefore employed X-ray lithography to fabricate these designs, which will be characterized by THz time-domain spectroscopy.

We propose a design of small-core multiple-layer Bragg waveguide for guiding the THz signal by TE01 mode, which is composed of alternating un-doped silicon (high refractive index) and high-density polyethylene (low refractive index). The group velocity of the THz wave traveling inside this small-core waveguide slows down to below 0.5c, while the propagation loss is less than 0.3 dB per centimeter ranging from 0.95 THz to 1.2 THz, which is better than the traditional metallic tube. Furthermore, a novel scheme is proposed to excite and retrieve the very high-purity TE01 mode in a Bragg waveguide by employing additional Y-type TE01 mode converters. Based on this scheme, for the first time, one is possible to characterize the Bragg TE01 mode in experiment or further apply such wave-guiding system in THz communication or beam-wave interaction for THz generation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of a temporary ureteral catheter in preventing iatrogenic ureteral damage in cervical cancer patients undergoing laparoscopic radical hysterectomy. All cases had confirmed diagnoses of cervical cancer preoperatively between December 2008 and December 2012 in our hospital and were in clinical stages IA2 to IIA. In total, 176 laparoscopic radical hysterectomy and lymphadenectomy procedures were performed. The 176 cases were divided into two groups: ureteral catheters were installed using cystoscopy before the operation in 86 patients (group A), and ureteral catheters were not placed in 90 patients (group B). These cases were retrospectively analyzed based on postoperative hospitalization time and intraoperative and postoperative complications. A total of 6 cases (3.41%) had ureteral injuries, and 4 of the cases (4.65%) of ureteral injuries occurred in group A. In two of these cases, urinary leaking appeared at the post-operative 8th and 9th days and at the 10th and 25th days, respectively. There were 2 cases (2.22%) of ureteral injuries in group B: 1 case of intraoperative direct injury and the other of urinary leaking, which appeared at post-operative day 21. Statistically significant differences between the two groups were observed in operating time and the incidence of hemorrhage, hematuria (including microscopic hematuria), post-operative urinary tract infection, and pain (P < 0.05). A ureteral catheter that is placed preoperatively can help to identify the ureter in laparoscopic radical hysterectomy, but does not decrease the incidence of ureteral injury.

Whether polymer cords embedded in rubber under compression have a reinforcing function is still an important question in the analysis of tire structures. In this paper, on the basis of experimental results, it is confirmed that polymer cords embedded in rubber present some stiffness, thus playing a reinforcing role to a certain extent. When the cord volume fraction in the cord-rubber composite is sufficiently large, the reinforcing function of the polymer cords is so significant that the properties of the cord-rubber composite are mainly influenced by those of the cord. When the compressive stress reaches a certain value, the cord-rubber composite specimen yields by buckling if the cord volume fraction is large enough and the cord angle is within a certain small range. The buckling stress, which may be considered to be a failure stress, decreases with an increase in temperature. On the other hand, the effect of the cord angle on the buckling stress is found to be insignificant.

We report a design of low-loss THz Bragg fibers with a core size on the order of wavelength that operates near the cutoff frequency of its TE01 mode. We also propose a broadband Y-type mode converter based on branched rectangular metallic waveguides to facilitate coupling between the TE01 mode of the Bragg fiber and the TEM mode in free space with 60% efficiency. Our fiber holds strong promise to facilitate beam-wave interaction in gyrotron for high-efficiency THz generation.

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies. We tried to elucidate the possible prognostic factors.A retrospective review was conducted of ATC patients in National Taiwan University Hospital from 1978 to 2003. Their demographic characteristics, clinical presentations, laboratory data and treatment modalities were reviewed. Possible prognostic factors for survival were evaluated.Forty-five patients (14 males and 31 females) of mean age 61.9 +/- 12.6 yr were included in this study. The median survival time was 94 days (range 6 to 776 days). The overall survival rate was 27% at 6 months and 10% at 1 yr. Thirty-two patients receiving intervention regimens had a median survival of 106 days, while 13 patients receiving palliative therapy had a median survival of 39 days. The difference in survival is statistically significant (logrank test, p = 0.017). Adjusted with sex and age, increment in white blood cell count (per 10(9)/l) and serum albumin (per 1.0 g/l) had a hazard ratio of 1.12 (Cox regression, p0.001) and 0.92 (p = 0.041), respectively. Patients with leukocytosis [white blood cell (WBC) count10(10)/l] or hypoalbuminemia (serum albumin35 g/l) had significant shorter survival than patients without leukocytosis or hypoalbuminemia (logrank test p = 0.008 and p = 0.032, respectively). Patients with serum T4 levels lower than 64.35 nmol/l had significantly shorter survival than patients without hypothyroxinemia (median survival 24 vs 128 days, logrank test, p = 0.004).ATC is an aggressive malignancy. Leukocytosis, hypoalbuminemia and hypothyroxinemia indicated poor prognosis. Survival time might be prolonged if intervention treatment is tolerable.

Hotien prefecture, Xinjiang Province, China, in the Taklamakan Desert, is an area of severe iodine deficiency. Because usual methods of iodine supplementation failed here, we began supplementation in 1992 with potassium iodate, which was added to irrigation water (Lancet 1994; 334:107-110). We report 4 y experience with this method in 3 townships that contained a total treated population of 37,000. Potassium iodate was dripped into irrigation water (to a concentration 10-80 microg/l) during a 2- to 4-wk period. During the 3 y that followed, no further supplementation was made, and iodine concentrations increased several fold in crops and plants, sheep and chicken thyroid glands, and meat and in urine of children 2-6 y of age and of women who were of childbearing age. Infant mortality decreased 50%, and sheep production increased 43%. Iodine repletion of soil through irrigation water is an effective and cost-efficient way of providing iodine in appropriate situations.