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This paper examines how firm-level human capital indicators influence product innovation using firm-level enterprise survey data from China conducted by the World Bank. The human capital indicators we use include the number of highly educated workers, the general manager's education and tenure, and the management team's education and age. We use the Logit, Negative Binomial, and linear Hurdle estimators to estimate the knowledge production function models that are augmented by our human capital variables. We find that human capital indicators have much more important effects in mid-sized cities than in metropolitan cities where R&D is the most important factor. Radical product innovation involves more human capital than product proliferation. Also, GM's tenure has a positive effect on product innovation in mid-sized cities, while it has a negative effect in metropolitan cities. After taking the endogeneity of human capital indicators into account, our results still hold. Finally, we also examine moderating effects of market instability and competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common debilitating condition affecting approximately 30–40% of women. The FDA issued a warning about polypropylene mesh used for pelvic floor repair due to erosion, exposure and other complications and banned it in 2019. The application of stem cell therapy and growth factors has strongly promoted the development of pelvic tissue engineering. we intend to address the issues of direct application of growth factors, the side effects of long-term exogenous treatment, and the directional differentiation of stem cells. Methods: we evaluated the paracrine effects and directional differentiation of adipose mesenchymal stem cells through stable overexpression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). we found that the modified stem cells could continuously and stably release bFGF in the initial stage and could spontaneously differentiate into fibroblasts with a high differentiation efficiency in the later stage. following ADSCs are designed to continuously release controllable levels of growth factors during the control period of repair, taking advantage of the paracrine function of stem cells to accelerate cell growth and extracellular matrix (ECM) reconstruction during the early stage of stem cell implantation, and then stem cells are differentiated into target tissues-fibroblasts to accelerate the reconstruction of pelvic floor tissues, this study demonstrated the strong therapeutic potential of this approach for pelvic tissue engineering. POP: Pelvic organ prolapse; ADSCs: Adipose-derived stem cells; bFGF: Basic fibroblast growth factor; BMSCs: Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells; HUVECs: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells; EMSCs: Endometrial mesenchymal stem cells; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; PDGF: Platelet-derived growth factor ECM: Extracellular matrix; IGF: Insulin-like growth factor; HGF: Hepatocyte growth factor; EGF: Epidermal growth factor; BMP-2: Bone morphogenetic protein 2; FBR: Foreign body reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the development of farmers as a goal of residential system using value rationality instead of farmer’s requirements which can be satisfied. Based upon the position and function of humanistic values in residential system, a rural housing system is built as a subjectivity and objectivity unity consisting of artifacts system, behavior system and concept system. Moreover, we introduce three coupling design strategies to rural livable residential system aiming to guide the current reconstruction of shabby buildings in rural areas.

Aims: To assess the pelvic floor function in cervical cancer patients after radical hysterectomy and its relationship with urinary incontinence (UI). Methods: Cervical cancer patients who underwent radical hysterectomy were recruited from 18 hospitals in China from January 2012 to March 2015. Pelvic floor examinations were conducted by measuring the pelvic floor muscle strength, fatigue of pelvic floor muscle fatigue, dynamic pressure of vaginal, nerve injury, A3 feedback, muscle potential, static tension, and dynamic tension. Postoperative urinary incontinence (UI) was identified using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association of pelvic floor function examination results with postoperative UI. Results: Totally 169 patients were included in this study. The prevalence of UI was 39.6% (67/169). The proportion of abnormal fatigue of Type I muscle (64% vs. 36%, p =.04) and abnormal A3 feedback (53.9% vs. 46.1%, p =.03) were higher among patients with postoperative UI compared to those without UI. In the multivariable analysis, abnormal fatigue of Type I muscle (odds ratio [OR] = 3.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.42–9.84), abnormal A3 feedback (OR = 2.40, 95% CI: 1.04–5.51), and length of resected vagina > 3 cm (OR = 3.44, 95% CI: 1.27–9.31) were associated with postoperative UI. Compared to laparoscopy, laparotomy was less likely to cause postoperative UI (OR = 0.12, 95% CI:0.04–0.33). Conclusions: The abnormal function of the pelvic floor muscle is related to postoperative UI. Early assessment among these patients is needed to prevent the development of pelvic floor disorder postoperatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the concept of subloading plasticity, a constitutive framework, using mean skeleton stress and effective degree of saturation as fundamental variables, is proposed for capturing coupled hydro-mechanical behaviours for overconsolidated unsaturated soils. This framework can be reduced to the Modified Cam-Clay model when suction becomes zero and the initial overconsolidation ratio (OCR) is equal to 1.0. Compared with the models in literature, the main advantage of the proposed model that it is capable of modelling the hydro-mechanical interaction behaviours of overconsolidated unsaturated soils, such as strain-hardening coupled with shear contraction for normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated unsaturated soils, strain-softening coupled with shear dilatancy for heavily overconsolidated unsaturated soils, and the effect of OCR on the shear-induced variation in the degree of saturation. Meanwhile, the dependence of mechanical behaviours of unsaturated soils on degree of saturation can be adequately described. The performance of the presented model is illustrated through numerical examples with different initial degrees of saturation and overconsolidation ratios. Finally, the proposed model is validated against a variety of experimental data from suction-controlled triaxial compression tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xiebai San (XBS) is a classical herbal prescription which has been used for the treatment of infantile cough and asthma for several hundred years. In this study, 39 compounds in XBS standard decoction were identified by HPLC–ESI–TOF system. Network pharmacology strategy was adopted to explore the relationship of chemicals, target genes and pathways, mulberroside A, kukoamine B and glycyrrhizic acid were chosen as quality markers in XBS standard decoction. An ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) method was established to simultaneously determine these three compounds on the Waters CORTECS T3 column (150 mm × 3 mm, 1.6 µm) at 0.45 mL min−1 with 0.1% (v/v) TFA (A) and acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase. The developed method was validated with satisfactory parameters: specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, stability and ruggedness. The method was then applied to analyze ten batches of XBS standard decoction and the initial quality control standard of XBS standard decoction was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and hypothesis: With the increasingly extensive application of epidural analgesia, its effect on pelvic floor function outcomes has received growing attention. The aim of the study is to determine the possible effect of epidural analgesia on pelvic floor muscle (PFM) endurance and strength and the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) at 6 weeks postpartum. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of 333 primiparous women after vaginal delivery. At 6 weeks postpartum, a vaginal balloon connected to a high-precision pressure transducer was used to measure PFM strength and endurance. SUI/UI was determined using the verified Chinese International Classification of Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI-SF) questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using binary logistic regression and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: Women in the epidural analgesia group experienced longer first and second stages of labor (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the rates of perineal lacerations, forceps assistance or episiotomy between women with or without epidural analgesia (p > 0.05). No statistically significant differences were found in PFM endurance (B: 0.933, 95% CI confidence interval: −1.413 to 3.278, p: 0.435) or PFM strength (B: 0.044, 95% CI: −3.204 to 3.291, p:0.979) between these two groups. In addition, the prevalence of UI (30.77% vs. 26.87%) and SUI (21.54% vs. 16.42%) in women with or without epidural analgesia was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusions: PFM function and UI prevalence at 6 weeks postpartum are not significantly affected by epidural analgesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and hypothesis: The aim of this study was to compare pelvic floor muscle strength (PFMS) and the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) and pelvic organ prolapse(POP) in women with and without diastasis recti abdominis (DRA) at 6–8 weeks postpartum. Methods: Three hundred and ten women underwent routine examinations, including POP quantification (POP-Q), PFMS measurement, DRA evaluation, and UI determination. Chi-squared tests and independent sample t test were used to compare the differences between women with DRA and without DRA. Results: Women with DRA presented significantly lower prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), predelivery BMI, and postpartum BMI; greater gestational age; and higher birth weights than women without DRA(p < 0.05). Moreover, DRA incidence was significantly higher in those who underwent cesarean section (CS) than in those who underwent vaginal delivery (VD)(p = 0.045). Although the PFMS of the DRA group was weaker and the prevalence of UI and POP was slightly higher than those of the no DRA group, the results were not statistically significant. The PFMS of the CS group was stronger than that of the VD group. Urinary incontinence and prolapse incidence were higher in the VD group than in the CS group. Women who underwent CS had a shorter genital hiatus (Gh) and smaller Ba and Bp values than those in the VD group. Women without DRA had an increased chance of Bp ≥ −2 and Gh ≥ 3(p < 0.05). Conclusions: Women with DRA were not more likely to have weakened PFMS and increased UI or POP at 6–8 weeks postpartum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]