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To access the reliability and validity of the student version of Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE-S).The JSPE-S was translated into Chinese using back-translation procedures and administered to 358 Chinese medical students at Sichuan University. The reliability was evaluated with Split-half reliability and internal consistency. The validity was analyzed using discriminate validity, convergent validity and structure validity.The JSPE-S had a split-half reliability coefficient of 0.853 and Cronbach alpha of 0.861. The convergent test achieved 95.0% success rate. The discriminant test achieved 95.0% success rate. Three factors were extracted, with a cumulative variance contribution of 50.87%. The estimated factor loading ranged from 0.485 to 0.834, with factor variance ranging from 1.736 to 4.625.The Chinese JSPE-S has satisfactory reliability and validity in medical students.

The conversion between DC and AC power will typically introduce a low-frequency pulsation power in the DC side of single phase power converter which may create instability, lowers its efficiency, and reduces the reliability. In this paper, a novel Power Decoupling Modular (PDM) with 2 series differential decoupling capacitors at the ac side is proposed. Compared with the DC PDM, the proposed modular holds smaller filter inductor resulting from reusing the ac inductor as the freewheel inductor, less voltage stress of the capacitor voltage because of full use of the capacitance and shortest flowing path of the pulsation power due to supply the pulsation power directly by the series capacitors at the ac side. Theoretical analysis and results are provided to explain the operation and showcase the performance of the modular. Moreover, the power flow involved in this circuit and associated controller design are detailed in the paper. Experimental results validate that the proposed solution without effect on the original system can achieve significant mitigation of the pulsation power as well as high quality output voltage.

To determine the prevalence of childhood overweight and its association with family socio-economic status (SES).Data of children aged 7-18 years were extracted from the 1991-2009 China Health and Nutrition Survey. Childhood overweight was defined using criteria proposed by the China and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF). SES was measured with average household income per capita. The associations between SES and childhood body mass index (BMI) and overweight were analyzed by a multivariate linear regression model and a logistic regression model, respectively.A triple increase in household income and prevalence of childhood overweight was found during the period from 1991 to 2009. Increased household income was associated with increased childhood BMI. Children living in a low-income family were less likely to be overweight than those living in a high-income family [odds ratio (OR) = 0. 490, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0. 266, 0. 904].Childhood overweight is associated with household income. Family intervention can help control childhood overweight problem in China.

To compare the results of Pearson residual calculations in logistic regression models using SPSS and SAS.We reviewed Pearson residual calculation methods, and used two sets of data to test logistic models constructed by SPSS and STATA. One model contained a small number of covariates compared to the number of observed. The other contained a similar number of covariates as the number of observed.The two software packages produced similar Pearson residual estimates when the models contained a similar number of covariates as the number of observed, but the results differed when the number of observed was much greater than the number of covariates.The two software packages produce different results of Pearson residuals, especially when the models contain a small number of covariates. Further studies are warranted.

Background Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is one of the fatal malignant neoplasms with poor prognosis. The traditional chemotherapy has been resistant to CC and does not improve the quality of life. The aim of the present study is to investigate the potential of chondroitin sulphate (CS)-histamine (HS) block copolymer micelles to improve the chemotherapeutic efficacy of docetaxel (DTX). Results pH-responsive property of CS-HS micelles was utilized to achieve maximum therapeutic efficacy in CC. In the present study, docetaxel-loaded CS-HS micelles (CSH-DTX) controlled the release of drug in the basic pH while rapidly released its cargo in the tumor pH (pH 5 and 6.8) possibly due to the breakdown of polymeric micelles. A nanosize of

A newly derived expression for estimation of Gibbs free energy difference (Δ G ) between the crystalline and under-cooled liquid of glass-forming alloys have been utilized to obtain theoretical Δ G for a variety of alloy systems. It gives better results nearly overlapping with the experimental values over entire under-cooling region for all alloy systems studied in this paper. However, the theoretical results given by other expressions deviate from the experimental values even in small under-cooling region except that the expressions proposed by Thompson and Spaepen and Lad et al. give a close estimation to the experimental Δ G in the temperature region of 680–937 K for Zr 41.2 Ti 13.8 Ni 10 Cu 12.5 Be 22.5 and 450–662 K for La 55 Cu 10 Ni 10 Al 25 , respectively. In addition, the results in present work will provide us with the evidence of the choice of the α values for different metallic glasses.

The oxygen-free dehydroaromatization of methane is of great scientific importance and industrial benefit for the effective utilization of natural gas and biogas to provide alternative petrochemical feed stocks and COx-free hydrogen production for fuel cells.1 Methane oxygen-free conversion into aromatics and hydrogen is not thermodynamically favorable at low temperatures ( 773 K); the equilibrium CH4 conversion at 973 K is 12%. At this temperature, benzene and naphthalene, in approximately equimolar amounts, are the thermodynamically preferred hydrocarbon products.2 The thermodynamic limitation is the main barrier for this process. To enhance the conversion of methane into aromatics beyond thermodynamic equilibrium, studies using H2-permeation membrane catalytic reactors are already underway by several research groups.3,4 However, preliminary reports on this approach are not very optimistic, and catalyst deactivation was more pronounced in a membrane catalytic reactor than in a fixed-bed reactor because of continuous withdrawal of the coproduced H2. Atmospheric nonthermal equilibrium plasma has been used as an efficient method for oxygen-free conversion of methane into C2 hydrocarbons (mainly acetylene) and H2 using pulsed corona/streamer discharges, or pulsed spark discharges.5-10 Only small amounts of C3-C5 hydrocarbons and trace amounts of aromatics were usually coproduced. Recently, Heintze and Magureanu reported the conversion of CH4 into aromatics in pulsed microwave plasma at atmospheric pressure in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst.11 In their work, the authors suggested that methane aromatization is very likely catalyzed on coke surfaces and highly unlikely by the trimerization of acetylene. The most abundant aromatic formed was benzene, and 5% of the maximum benzene yield was obtained. Herein, we show a two-stage plasma-followed-bycatalyst (PFC) reactor for the oxygen-free conversion of methane into aromatic-rich hydrocarbons and coproduced H2. Methane is converted to acetylene by plasma in the first stage, with the second stage for acetylene trimerization on nickel-loaded HZSM-5 catalyst. Oxygen-free conversion of methane was performed at atmospheric pressure in a two-stage PFC reactor, as shown in Figure 1. The first stage of the PFC reactor, for generating pulsed spark discharge, was located in the upper part of a quartz tube (i.d. 10 mm) and consisted of a stainless steel wire (2 mm diameter) as the high-voltage electrode and a perforated iron plate (9 mm diameter) as the ground electrode. The distance between the two electrodes was 10 mm. The high-voltage power supply source for generating pulsed spark discharge was described before.10 The second stage of the PFC reactor was filled with 0.5 g of HZSM-5 or Ni/HZSM-5 pellets of 20-40 mesh. The Ni/HZSM-5 catalysts were prepared by the conventional impregnation method using HZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 25, Nankai University, China) and aqueous solution of nickel nitrate. The impregnated samples were dried at 393 K for 4 h, calcined at 723 K for 4 h in air, and reduced at 673K for 2 h in hydrogen. The flow rates for CH4, H2, and N2 were controlled through a mass flow controller. The feed gas mixture of CH4 (99.99%) and H2 (99.99%) with a molar ratio of CH4/H2 1 was introduced into the PFC reactor at a flow rate of 9.2 cm/min. 2.2 cm/min of N2 (99.99%) was used as an internal standard for analysis and introduced into the effluent gas from the PFC reactor to avoid conversion of N2 in the plasma. Hydrocarbon products were sampled by a six-way valve heated to 473 K and analyzed on-line by a gas chromatograph (Agilent 1790F) with a flame ionization detector (FID) and using a 2 mm (i.d.) 3m Porapak-P column with N2 as the carrier gas. N2 and CH4 were analyzed on-line by another gas chromatograph (Agilent 1790T) with a thermoconductive deY. Xu and A.-M. Zhu are also affiliated with State Key Laboratory of Materials Modification by Laser, Ion and Electron Beams, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to A.-M. Zhu at amzhu@dlut.edu.cn.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder of a largely unknown etiology. Anti-double-stranded (ds) DNA antibodies are a classic hallmark of the disease, although the mechanism underlying their induction remains unclear. We demonstrate here that, in both lupus-prone and normal mouse strains, strong anti-dsDNA antibody responses can be induced by dendritic cells (DC) that have ingested syngeneic necrotic (DC/nec), but not apoptotic (DC/apo), cells. Clinical manifestations of lupus were evident, however, only in susceptible mouse strains, which correlate with the ability of DC/nec to release IFN-gamma and to induce the pathogenic IgG2a anti-dsDNA antibodies. Injection of DC/nec not only accelerated disease progression in the MRL/MpJ-lpr/lpr lupus-prone mice but also induced a lupus-like disease in the MRL/MpJ-+/+ wild-type control strain. Immune complex deposition was readily detectable in the kidneys, and the mice developed proteinuria. Strikingly, female MRL/MpJ-+/+ mice that had received DC/nec, but not DC/apo, developed a 'butterfly' facial lesion resembling a cardinal feature of human SLE. Our study therefore demonstrates that DC/nec inducing a Th1 type of responses, which are otherwise tightly regulated in a normal immune system, may play a pivotal role in SLE pathogenesis.

We have already coamplified minimal haplotypes (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385I/II), two additional loci, namely, DYS438, DYS439, and Amelogenin, in a single PCR using the Y-PLEX 12 kit. We investigated 107 unrelated male individuals from the Uigur ethnic group and studied the allelic frequency distribution and haplotype diversity of 11 Y-chromosomal STRs. A number of 43 alleles (nine STR loci) and 27 phenotypes (including DYS385) were detected, with frequencies ranging from 0.0092 to 0.6296. A total of 103 haplotypes were identified, among which 99 were individual-specific and four haplotypes were found twice. The haplotype diversity for these 12 Y-STR loci was 0.9993.

Methane conversion to C2 hydrocarbons and hydrogen has been investigated in a needle-to-plate reactor by pulsed streamer and pulsed spark discharges and in a wire-to-cylinder dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor by pulsed DC DBD and AC DBD at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. In the former two electric discharge processes, acetylene is the dominating C2 products. Pulsed spark discharges gives the highest acetylene yield (54%) and H2 yield (51%) with 69% of methane conversion in a pure methane system and at 10 SCCM of flow rate and 12 W of discharge power. In the two DBD processes, ethane is the major C2 products and pulsed DC DBD provides the highest ethane yield. Of the four electric discharge techniques, ethylene yield is less than 2%. Energy costs for methane conversion, acetylene or ethane (for DBD processes) formation, and H2 formation increase with methane conversion percentage, and were found to be: in pulsed spark discharges (methane conversion 18‐69%), 14‐25, 35‐65 and 10‐17 eV/molecule; in pulsed streamer discharges (methane conversion 19‐41%), 17‐21, 38‐59, and 12‐19 eV/molecule; in pulsed DBD (methane conversion 6‐13%), 38‐57, 137‐227 and 47‐75 eV/ molecule; in AC DBD (methane conversion 5‐8%), 116‐175, 446‐637, and 151‐205 eV/molecule, respectively. The immersion of the gAl2O3 pellets in the pulsed streamer discharges, or in the pulsed DC DBD, or in the AC DBD has a positive effect on increasing methane conversion and C2 yield. # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

To determine the value of blink reflex in early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of Bell palsy.Blink reflex and facial nerve conduction were examined in 58 patients with Bell palsy within one week after symptom onset. The patients without response of R1 , R2 and R2 ' waves were classified as complete efferent retardarce (Group A, 30 cases), and those with response of R1 , R2 and R2 ' waves were classified as incomplete efferent anomalies (Group B, 28 cases). The clinical outcomes after three months of systemic therapy were evaluated using the House-Blackmann (H-B) scale.Efferent anomalies of blink reflex occurred in ail of the 58 patients. Abnormal results of facial nerve conduction appeared in 23 (39. 7%) patients. The three months therapy was effective in 93% patients in Group B and 70% patients in Group A (P0. 05).Blink reflex can play a significant role in early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of Bell palsy.

Prenatal ultrasonography is the most widely available diagnostic test for fetal congenital heart disease (CHD), but the factors influencing its diagnostic accuracy remain uncertain despite extensive research. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential role of demographic, clinical and ultrasonographic characteristics on diagnostic yields for detecting CHD.A systematic search of PubMed, ISI Web of Science, SinoMed, and the Cochrane Library was performed to identify studies assessing the accuracy of prenatal ultrasound in the detection of CHD. A random effects model was used to generate pooled sensitivity and specificity in addition to summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves.Overall, prenatal ultrasound in the detection of CHD had a moderate sensitivity of 68.1% (95% CI 59.6-75.5) and a favorable specificity of 99.9% (99.7-99.9). Risk level and gestation age were independent predictors of diagnostic performance for detecting CHD (p = 0.004 vs. p = 0.002, respectively). The pooled sensitivities significantly increased to varying extents with the following echocardiographic views: 48.7% (34.8-67.2) for four-chamber view (4CV); 58.0% (40.3-73.9) for a combination of 4CV and outflow tract views (OTV); 73.5% (59.2-84.1) for combination of 4CV, OTV and three vessels and trachea view (3VTV); 77.1% (62.0-87.5) for extensive cardiac echocardiography examination (ECEE); and 89.6% (81.0-94.6) for spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC).Prenatal ultrasound is a powerful tool for the diagnosis of CHD; however, a single ultrasonographic regime is not definitive on its own and must be interpreted in the context of demographic and clinical characteristics.

To determine the impact of parental smoking on adolescent smoking.Data were retrieved from the China Health and Nutrition Surveys. Both Logistic regression and Tobit regression analyses were performed to estimate the intergenerational effects.The prevalence of adolescent smoking was 2.35%. The Logistic regression results showed that parental smoking was a risk factor for adolescent smoking. Estimations from Tobit regression showed that father smoking was also correlated with the numbers of cigarettes adolescent smoked.An intergenerational effect was observed between parental smoking and adolescent smoking. In order to reduce adolescent smoking, parental smoking control should be targeted.

橋軸方向地震力を受ける逆L形橋脚では, その非対称性より, 脚柱頂部に水平力とともにねじりモーメントが作用すると考えて, 復元力特性が検討されている. しかしながら, 高架橋全体をシステムとしてとらえると, 2個の不動ヒンジ支承で上部構主桁が逆L形橋脚の横ばり上で支持されていることと, 主桁の水平面内曲げ剛性が非常に大きいことにより, 橋軸方向地震力に対して橋脚柱のねじれはかなり拘束されることが判明した. したがって, 逆L形単一橋脚モデルとしては橋脚横ばりの水平面内回転を拘束したモデルの精度がよい. さらに, 横ばり剛性が大きい場合はT形単一橋脚モデルでも十分である. ここでは, 最大応答変位算定における上記2種類の単一橋脚モデルの精度評価式ならびに, 構造上重要な2個の不動ヒンジ支承の反力算定式も示した.

In the conventional studies on the seismic behavior of bridge piers, it is common to use an in-plane modeling where the real behavior of frames subjected to the three-dimensional seismic loading is ignored. Herein, we present a three-dimensional nonlinear dynamic analysis for frames, where the panel zone deformation is also considered. In this analysis, geometrical nonlinearity is precisely taken into account by using the co-rotational method, whilst the member plastification is analyzed by the plastic-zone method. With the numerical method, the three-dimensional seismic behavior is examined for bridge piers of single post-type and portal frame-type in which effect of panel-zone deformation is also discussed.

Domestic satellites BJ-1, HJ and the most widely used satellite Landsat were selected to systematically compare their abilities and differences on the estimation of the biophysical parameters of grassland in sandstorm source region in Beijing and Tianjin, with the combination of field-measured fractional coverage, leaf area index and aboveground biomass data. The result shows: (1) In terms of the surface reflectance, HJ-1B and Landsat have a higher correlation with biophysical parameters in red band, compared with BJ-1, while BJ-1's near infra-red band was obviously superior to HJ-1B and Landsat, (2) with respect to the vegetation indices, Landsat performed best, HJ-1B was the second, and BJ-1 was the worst, (3) compared with vegetation indices, multiple regression model can raise the estimation accuracy, BJ-1 based model improved significantly, while Landsat and HJ-1B based models were less obvious. Among them, the highest accuracy was acquired for leaf area index estimation through the BJ-1 based model (R2 = 0.61, RMSEP = 0.15). In general, domestic satellites have their own unique features, which remain a huge potential to be further tapped.

To investigate the current distribution of susceptible areas of schistosomiasis outside embankment, so as to provide the evidence for making comprehensive measures in Hunan Province.The outside embankment areas where Oncomelania snails possibly or historically distributed and people and animals had activities were surveyed. The schistosomiasis information of the susceptible areas was collected, a database was set up, the positions were marked with GPS, an E-map was drawn with Google Earth, and the distribution was analyzed.The number of marshlands with schistosomiasis susceptible areas outside embankment was 787, the length was 1,429.64 km, and the area was 6,2017.17 hm(2). The average density of living snails was 0.37 snails/0.1 m(2), and the average density of infected snails was 0.0019 snails/0.1 m(2). The infected snails were found in 180 marshlands, and the area was 688.07 hm(2). Sixteen rivers had the susceptible areas, and the main vegetation was weeds.The susceptible area of schistosomiasis outside embankment is wide and complex. Therefore, the comprehensive control measures should be strengthened.

It is an urgent global problem how to improve the violence risk assessment. As a necessary part of risk assessment, statistical methods have remarkable impacts and effects. In this study, the predicted methods in violence risk assessment from the point of statistics are reviewed. The application of Logistic regression as the sample of multivariate statistical model, decision tree model as the sample of data mining technique, and neural networks model as the sample of artificial intelligence technology are all reviewed. This study provides data in order to contribute the further research of violence risk assessment.

To understand the effect of comprehensive schistosomiasis control measures with focus on buffalo and sheep removal in Anxiang City, Dongting Lake area.The data of buffalo and sheep removal, routine schistosomiasis control measures such as disease detection and treatment, Oncomelania snail survey and control, as well as health education were collected and analyzed in Anxiang County, Hunan Province from 2004 to 2012.The schistosome infection rates of people, domestic animals and snails decreased from 11.23%, 17.06% and 1.07% in 2004 when the comprehensive measures had not been implemented to 0.58%, 0 and 0 in 2012, respectively. The average density of infected snails decreased from 0.003 4 snails/0.1 m2 to 0.The comprehensive control measures with focus on buffalo and sheep removal are significantly effective, and can control the transmission of schistosomiasis in marshland and lake regions.

A gliding arc discharge, as a source of warm plasma combining advantages of both thermal and cold plasmas, would have promising application prospects in the fields of fuel conversion, combustion enhancement, material synthesis, surface modifications, pollution control, etc. In order to gain insight into the features of an alternating-current gliding arc discharge plasma, three dimensionless factors, i.e., the extinction span (ψ), current lag (δ), and heating lag (χ) factors are proposed in this letter based on the measured waveforms of the discharge voltage and current in an AC gliding arc discharge plasma. The influences of the driving frequency of the power supply (f) on these three dimensionless parameters are investigated experimentally with the explanations on the physical meanings of these factors. The experimental results show that a higher value of f would lead to the lower values of ψ and δ, as well as a higher value of χ. These experimental phenomena indicate a lower threshold ignition voltage o...

To analyze the main endemic indicators and their changing trend of schistosomiasis since the founding of new China for 60 years in Dongting Lake regions.A variety of archival data on schistosomiasis epidemiology and control were collected, and several mathematical models were applied to estimate the main endemic indicators of schistosomiasis.Compared to those in 1950s, the infection rates of schistosomiasis among human and cattle in 2010 were declined by 89.3% and 94.7%, respectively; the number of schistosomiasis patients was reduced from 600 thousand to 88 thousand; the number of acute schistosomiasis patients dropped from 2 732 to 18; and that of advanced schistosomiasis patients decreased from 55 thousand to 5 632.The high priority by government authority, suitable control models according to local conditions and huge resources are the cornerstone of success on schistosomiasis control in Dongting Lake regions.

This paper describes the epidemic status and current endemic features of schistosomiasis in Dongting Lake area and analyzes the achievements and weakness of various control measures. It also summarizes the characteristics of epidemic situation in the Dongting Lake region, which indicates the long-term and the arduous work in the future for the control of schistosomiasis. In strategy, comprehensive measures should be implemented and routine prevention control work should be remained combing with the control of transmission sources.

Supported gold (Au) nanocatalysts have attracted much attention due to their high activities in CO oxidation at low-temperature. While the deactivation of gold catalysts during the reaction limits their practical use. Two major reasons for the deactivation were put forward and accepted in general, i.e. agglomeration of gold particles and accumulation of carbonate-like species1,2. The agglomeration of gold particles may cause irreversible and weak deactivation. In most cases, the accumulation of inactive surface carbonate species on catalyst during CO oxidation may lead to catalyst activity loss. This type of deactivation could be reversibly regenerated through post heat-treatment, however, which brings a side effect or issue of irreversible gold particles aggregation during heat-treatment. In this paper, non-thermal plasma (NTP) technologies were used for in-situ regeneration of the deactivated gold catalysts at low temperature. It is the first time to report in-situ regeneration of the deactivated Au/TiO 2 catalysts during CO oxidation by O 2 (with presence or absence of N 2 ) plasma. It has been demonstrated that pure O 2 plasma could reversibly regenerate the deactivated Au/Ti O 2 catalysts for CO oxidation. However, from practical point of view, potentially applying air instead of pure O 2 is more favorable. Thus the effect of N 2 content on the catalyst regeneration was investigated. It was found that N 2 addition would cause an extra poisoning effect. At N 2 content of 10%, the extra poisoning effect is the worst and becomes much weaker at the concentration of N 2 in air. The formation of surface poisoning species [NO y ] s was proposed to explain the catalyst poising during regeneration using N 2 / O 2 plasma.

Summary form only given. Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) films, because of their special properties, have been studied extensively as semiconductor photocatalyst for solar energy conversion and purification of water and air. Plasma CVD is highly efficient for depositing TiO 2 films, but it has mainly been low pressure incorporated with sophisticated discharge and vacuum systems that have been adopted. Thus, in recent years, atmospheric-pressure cold plasma has been explored to deposite TiO 2 films1–4. In this paper, RF and kilohertz dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma were explored for one-step deposition of TiO 2 photocatalytic films, respectively.

To study the effects of gold belt (GB), a Chinese Herbal, on behavioral changes and brain derived neutrophic factor (BDNF) expression and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor level in rats subjected to spinal cord injury (SCI).Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: (1) Sham group; (2) Spinal cord injury group (SCI group); (3) Spinal cord injury followed with gold belt treatment (gold belt 50 mg/(kg x d), intragastric gavage once daily for 7 days) group (GB group). The Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scale method was performed to evaluate the hindlimb motor function in the days 0, 3, 10 and 28. After 13 days, 8 rats in each group were treated with 1% sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg), myoloid tissue in T10 position was taken and stored in liquid nitrogen to detect NMDA receptor affinity and maximum binding amount (Bmax) with radioligand binding assay. After 28 days, rats were sacrificed and the spinal cords were harvested for immunohistochemistry to observe the localization of BDNF in the ventral and dorsal horn of the spinal cord.After spinal cord contusion, GB resulted in a significant increase on the number of BDNF positive neurons compared with traumatic group, and increased BBB score and decreased NMDA receptor were also found in GB group. Whereas decreased BDNF expression, NMDA receptor affininty (Kd) were observed in traumatic injury group.The gold belt treatment could effectively improve motor function, increase expression of BDNF, reduce the level of NMDA receptors in SCI rats. These data suggested that the gold belt played a role in the neuroplasticity after spinal cord injury.

To study the effect of methylprednisolone on spinal cord injury rats' neural behavior and the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA).To establish rat model of spinal cord injury (SCI), the rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, SCI group and methylprednisolone group (n = 16 in each group). Eight rats were used for the behavioral assessment and BDNF measurement,the other eight animals was for the NMDA receptor test in each group. Within 8 h spinal cord contusion, methylprednisolone (50 mg/kg) was injected for methylprednisolone group, then after that the intramuscular injection of methylprednisolone was per day reduction in 10 mg/kg, till 5 days. By using immunohistochemical staining, the distribution of BDNF in the spinal cord and positive cell localization was observed and the number of positive cells were counted. The NMDA receptor affinity (Kd) and maximum binding amount (Bmax) were measured with [3H] MK-801 radioligand method, and the rat hind limb functional was also evaluated with BBB score analysis.Both the number of BDNF positive cells and the BBB score in methylprednisolone group was significant higher than that of SCI group; While increased receptor affinity (Kd) and decreased Bmax for NMDA receptor in methylprednisolone group was seen less than in SCI group (P0.05).Methylprednisolone can improve the function of rat hind limb, increase BDNF level and decreased NMDA receptor expression after spinal cord injury.

To explore the feasibility of RNA interference in the treatment of melanoma by inhibiting the Foxp3 gene expression in mouse B16 melanoma cells using RNA interference (RNAi) in vitro.Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was designed according to Foxp3 gene. A short hairpin RNA (shRNA) lentivirus expression vector was constructed and transfected into mouse B16 cells, and RNA interference was induced in vitro. Western blot and real-time RT-PCR were performed to detect the expression of Foxp3 gene. ELISA was applied to detect the changes of TGF-β(1);, TGF-β(2);, IL-10 and other cytokines. The B16 cells after interference were co-cultured with CD4(+);CD25(-);T lymphocytes. CCK8 assay was used to monitor the proliferation of CD4(+);CD25(-);T lymphocytes.shRNA could suppress the expression level of Foxp3, down-regulate the inhibitory ability of tumor cells on the proliferation of CD4(+);CD25(-);T lymphocytes, and reduce the secretion of TGF-β(1);, TGF-β(2);, IL-10 and other cytokines, in particular the expression of TGF-β(2);.RNA interference can inhibit the expression of target gene Foxp3 in mice melanoma cells and the proliferation of tumor cells. It can also reduce the inhibition on the proliferation of CD4(+);CD25(-);T lymphocytes, and the secretion of inhibitory cytokines.

Based on data related to human brucellosis which was collected from the national notifiable infectious disease reporting system in the 6 provinces (Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Jilin and Liaoning) of north China from 2004 to 2007, at the county scale. Data would include age and gender standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) while ESDA was including histograms, box plots and box maps, global and local Moran's I statistics, etc. The global Moran's I values from 2004 to 2007 were 0.2581, 0.4574, 0.4457, 0.4841, respectively and all with statistically significant differences. Most of local Moran's I values were significant positive statistically. High-high counties were mainly in the northeast, most of which were pastoral areas, but the farming-pastoral areas and agricultural areas/town had an increasing trend over time. Low-low counties were mainly in the western and southern areas and most of which were agricultural areas/towns. Low-high counties appeared to be rare, mainly around the counties with high incidence, mainly belonged to agricultural areas/towns. The incidence rates of brucellosis in the six provinces of north China had a trend of increase from 2004 to 2007, namely spreading from east to west, from south to north, and from pastoral areas to farming-pastoral areas and agricultural areas/towns. ESDA could be used to develop effective measures for prevention and control of brucellosis.

To apply Wavelet Neural Networks (WNN) model to forecast incidence of Syphilis.Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) and WNN were developed based on the monthly incidence of Syphilis in Sichuan province from 2004 to 2008. The accuracy of forecast was compared between the two models.In the training approximation, the mean absolute error (MAE), rooted mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) were 0.0719, 0.0862 and 11.52% respectively for WNN, and 0.0892, 0.1183 and 14.87% respectively for BPNN. The three indexes for generalization of models were 0.0497, 0.0513 and 4.60% for WNN, and 0.0816, 0.1119 and 7.25% for BPNN.WNN is a better model for short-term forecasting of Syphilis.

To set up appropriate parameters and scales of analysis for monitoring infectious diseases using Rogerson spatial pattern surveillance method.Hepatitis data in Henan provinces from 2006 to 2009 were tested using Rogerson spatial patterns surveillance method.When the parameters were set with n0 = 12, K= 0.5, H = 7.17, r = 25 and analyzed at city level, 26 alarms were triggered. When the parameters were set with n0 = 4, K = 0.5, H = 8.26, r = 15 and analyzed at county level, 115 alarms were triggered.K and a need to be set first, followed by n0 and r with adaptation to the anticipated numbers of alarm. Then, the parameters of ARL0, ARL1, and H can be calculated. For the surveillance of hepatitis A, county level analysis is more reasonable than city level.

The purpose of this article was to investigate the application of Google Earth (GE) in the Three Dimensional Visualization (TDV) of the warnings signaled by early warning system of infectious disease. As an example, the prospective space-time scan statistics was used by mimicking daily prospective analyses of bacillary dysentery data from Shanghai municipality, Zhejiang province and Jiangsu province in 2005. Then one of the warnings was picked to illustrate the visualization of GE. GE could vividly display the results in three dimensions containing the complex information including date, areas, observed numbers, expected numbers etc. GE seemed a useful tool for infectious disease surveillance and had potential important values in reflecting the emergency response situation. The development of integrated system which consisted of GE, the infectious disease reporting system and cluster detection methods need to be emphasized for further research.

Based on the number of brucellosis cases reported from the national infectious diseases reporting system in Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2007, a model was developed. Theories of spatial statistics were used, together with knowledge on infectious disease epidemiology and the frame of Bayesian statistics, before the Bayesian spatio-temporal models were respectively set. The effects of space, time, space-time and the relative covariates were also considered. These models were applied to analyze the brucellosis distribution and time trend in Inner Mongolia during 2000-2007. The results of Bayesian spatio-temporal models was expressed by mapping of the disease and compared to the conventional statistical methods. Results showed that the Bayesian models, under consideration of space-time effect and the relative covariates (deviance information criterion, DIC=2388.000), seemed to be the best way to serve the purpose. The county-level spatial correlation of brucellosis epidemics was positive and quite strong in Inner Mongolia. However, the spatial correlation varied with time and the coefficients ranged from 0.968 to 0.973, having a weakening trend during 2000-2007. Types of region and number of stock (cattle and sheep) might be related to the brucellosis epidemics, and the effect on the number of cattle and sheep changed by year. Compared to conventional statistical methods, Bayesian spatio-temporal modeling could precisely estimate the incidence relative risk and was an important tool to analyze the epidemic distribution patterns of infectious diseases and to estimate the incidence relative risk.

To perform a Meta analysis of prognostic cohort studies for evaluating the use of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as a predictor of survival in patients with oral carcinoma.A search of OVIDMEDLINE, EMBASE database and two Chinese database (CNKI and VIP) was conducted using common text words combined with medical subject headings to capture the related cohort studies. Data were collected comparing disease-free and overall survival in patients with high VEGF levels as compared to those with low levels. Studies were pooled and summary hazard ratios (HR) were calculated.14 texts were included in this study. High tissue VEGF levels predicted poor overall survival (HR: 2.95, 95% CI: 2.14-4.08) and disease-free survival (HR: 2.28, 95%CI: 1.61-3.21). Similarly, high VEGF levels predicted poor overall survival (HR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.82-3.73) and disease-free survival (HR: 2.58, 95% CI: 1.73-3.84) in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.VEGF may be useful for defining prognosis in oral carcinoma.

To understand the mental intervention service system responsiveness.A stratified, multi-stage random cluster sampling method was used, and a total of 211 residents in the central earthquake area were face to face interviewed by using the evaluating questionnaire of mental intervention service system responsiveness (including confidentiality, autonomy, prompt attention and so on, in sum of eight indicators). Analytic hierarchy process method was used to determine the weight of each index, carrying out a single index evaluation and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation on the mental intervention service system responsiveness, and using Spearman rank correlation and Binary logistic regression model to analyze the relationship of total satisfaction of mental intervention with each index.The dignity and confidentiality indicators were higher weight and rating. Prompt attention and the autonomy indicators were higher weight but lower rating, while surroundings and choice of providers indicators were lower weight and rating. It was also found that communication and social support network indicators were lower weight but higher rating. The overall assessment of mental intervention service system responsiveness ranged between "good" and "very good". All rank correlation coefficients of the indicators and the total satisfaction of mental interventions were significant (r(s) = 0.186 - 0.362, P0.05), except for confidentiality. The logistic regression analysis showed that the main factors of the individual variables influencing the total satisfaction were dignity (adjusted OR = 3.047, P0.001), surroundings (adjusted OR = 1.619, P = 0.019), and social support network (adjusted OR = 1.527, P = 0.005).The overall assessment of mental intervention service system responsiveness was high. Mental interventions should be taken positive and effective measures to improve the prompt attention, autonomy, the choice of providers and service environment.

To investigate the application of WSARE (What's Strange About Recent Events) algorithm in early warning on outbreaks of infectious diseases and to explore the multi-dimensional statistical methods for the detection of infectious diseases outbreak. Using WSARE algorithms based on historical data and Bayesian Network as baseline respectively, to analyze data on measles by mimicking the real-time monitoring and early warning system in Bao'an district, Shenzhen city, in 2007. WSARE algorithms were considered to be effective and timely in detecting the abnormally increase of measles among special population. WSARE algorithm could timely detect the abnormal increase of diseases among special local populations, thus having important value in the application of early warning system during the outbreak of infectious diseases.

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of multivariate multilevel models for bioequivalence evaluation. Using an example of a 4 x 4 cross-over test design in evaluating bioequivalence of homemade and imported rosiglitazone maleate tablets, this paper illustrated the multivariate-model-based method for partitioning total variances of ln(AUC) and ln(C(max)) in the framework of multilevel models. It examined the feasibility of multivariate multilevel models in directly evaluating average bioequivalence (ABE), population bioequivalence (PBE) and individual bioequivalence (IBE). Taking into account the correlation between ln(AUC) and ln(C(max)) of rosiglitazone maleate tablets, the proposed models suggested no statistical difference between the two effect measures in their ABE bioequivalence via joint tests, whilst a contradictive conclusion was derived based on univariate multilevel models. Furthermore, the PBE and IBE for both ln(AUC) and ln(C(max)) of the two types of tablets were assessed with no statistical difference based on estimates of variance components from the proposed models. Multivariate multilevel models could be used to analyze bioequivalence of multiple effect measures simultaneously and they provided a new way of statistical analysis to evaluate bioequivalence.

Based on Hyperion hyperspectral image data, the image-derived shifting sand, false-Gobi spectra, and field-measured sparse vegetation spectra were taken as endmembers, and the sparse vegetation coverage (40%) in Minqin oasis-desert transitional zone of Gansu Province was estimated by using fully constrained linear spectral mixture model (LSMM) and non-constrained LSMM, respectively. The results showed that the sparse vegetation fraction based on fully constrained LSMM described the actual sparse vegetation distribution. The differences between sparse vegetation fraction and field-measured vegetation coverage were less than 5% for all samples, and the RMSE was 3.0681. However, the sparse vegetation fraction based on non-constrained LSMM was lower than the field-measured vegetation coverage obviously, and the correlation between them was poor, with a low R2 of 0.5855. Compared with McGwire's corresponding research, the sparse vegetation coverage estimation in this study was more accurate and reliable, having expansive prospect for application in the future.

This study aims to explore the application value of multilevel models for bioequivalence evaluation. Using a real example of 2 x 4 cross-over experimental design in evaluating bioequivalence of antihypertensive drug, this paper explores complex variance components corresponding to criteria statistics in existing methods recommended by FDA but obtained in multilevel models analysis. Results are compared with those from FDA standard Method of Moments, specifically on the feasibility and applicability of multilevel models in directly assessing the bioequivalence (ABE), the population bioequivalence (PBE) and the individual bioequivalence (IBE). When measuring ln (AUC), results from all variance components of the test and reference groups such as total variance (sigma(TT)(2) and sigma(TR)(2)), between-subject variance (sigma(BT)(2) and sigma(BR)(2)) and within-subject variance (sigma(WT)(2) and sigma(WR)(2)) estimated by simple 2-level models are very close to those that using the FDA Method of Moments. In practice, bioequivalence evaluation can be carried out directly by multilevel models, or by FDA criteria, based on variance components estimated from multilevel models. Both approaches produce consistent results. Multilevel models can be used to evaluate bioequivalence in cross-over test design. Compared to FDA methods, this one is more flexible in decomposing total variance into sub components in order to evaluate the ABE, PBE and IBE. Multilevel model provides a new way into the practice of bioequivalence evaluation.

The propensity score method is widely used in clinical studies to estimate the effect of a treatment with two levels on patient's outcomes. However, due to the complexity of many diseases, an effective treatment often involves multiple components. For example, in the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), an effective treatment may include multiple components, e.g. Chinese herbs, acupuncture, and massage therapy. In clinical trials involving TCM, patients could be randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group, but they or their doctors may make different choices about which treatment component to use. As a result, treatment components are not randomly assigned. Rosenbaum and Rubin proposed the propensity score method for binary treatments, and Imbens extended their work to multiple treatments. These authors defined the generalized propensity score as the conditional probability of receiving a particular level of the treatment given the pre-treatment variables. In the present work, we adopted this approach and developed a statistical methodology based on the generalized propensity score in order to estimate treatment effects in the case of multiple treatments. Two methods were discussed and compared: propensity score regression adjustment and propensity score weighting. We used these methods to assess the relative effectiveness of individual treatments in the multiple-treatment IMPACT clinical trial. The results reveal that both methods perform well when the sample size is moderate or large.

Though XML is applied intensively in a lot of applications, XML parsing is not practical in many fields because of its poor performance. Parallel XML parsing on multi-core is a promising choice. Previous methods all adopt data parallel approach on XML parsing. As the semi-structured nature of XML, they were obliged to divide the data into well-formed XML chunks and then parse these chunks parallel. The division process is named as preparsing. As the preparsing is serial, it becomes the bottleneck of parallel XML parsing. Related work Simultaneous Finite Transducer (SFTXP) parallelized the preparsing stage. It maintained multiple preparser results for each equal sized chunk according to enumerated all possible parsing states. In spite of finite states for each XML, the overhead by SFTXP is tremendous, including CPU time and memory for multiple results generating and storing, respectively. In this work, we address parallel XML parsing by Key Element Parse Tracing (KEPT) method which parallelizes the preparsing and parsing at element level. It remolds the preparsing as a key element extracting process and schedules the processing of key elements in the framework of KEPT. Then parsing process is parallelized as a whole. To demonstrate the effectiveness, we implement it on libxml2 and obtain good scalability on both an 8-core Linux machine and an 8-core 24 SMT Sun machine running Solaris.

To test the reliability and validity of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) in patients with low back pain in China.Eighty six patients (female 51, male 35, average age 39.5 +/- 10.1) with chronic low back pain were assessed with the ODI. The assessment was repeated 48 hours after the first test.The Cronbach' Alpha coefficient for the ODI was 0.891. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the repeated tests was 0.854 (95% CI = 0.775-0.905). The exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors, which accounted for 61.91% of the total variance. Significant correlations were found between the ODI and the 6 domains of the SF-36.The Chinese version of Oswestry Disability Index has satisfactory reliability and validity. It can be used as an instrument for assessing chronic low back pain-related disability.

To identify the determinants of birth in hospitals in the poor rural areas.A questionnaire survey in eight poor counties in Sichuan province was conducted. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the factors that influenced birth in hospitals.Hospitals delivered 61.4% of babies in the selected counties. Education, eligibility to poverty relief, numbers of pre-natal examinations and abnormalities found in pre-natal examinations had a significant impact on birth in hospitals.Education of women and medical relief in the poor rural areas need to be strengthened to increase the proportion of babies delivered in hospitals in the poor rural areas. Systematic management of pregnant women and increased pre-natal examinations could also contribute to hospital delivery of babies.

We reported a rare case of protoplasmic astrocytoma presenting small muscle atrophy of the right hand as an initial sign. A 39-year-old male was admitted to hospital complaining of chronic muscle atrophy and subtle headache. Electromyography (EMG) showed brief small denervation and no signs of sensory-motor conduction impairment. CT and MRI revealed multiply expansive intracranial lesion in left hemisphere, which was highly suspected of cerebral echinococcus or Balo disease. The patient underwent surgical excision and pathological report was protoplasmic astrocytoma, with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP, +++) of immunohistochemical method. We reviewed clinical features, radiological manifestations and pathology of protoplasmic astrocytoma with medical literature documents.

In recent years, the proportion of under-ground cables in power gird has increased. More and more overhead - underground hybrid lines have come out. It is necessary to do further research on the problem that whether auto-reclosure should be put into operation on overhead-underground hybrid lines. In this paper, the phase matrices of overhead- underground hybrid lines are derived at first, then the capacitive effect is analyzed and voltage transfer coefficient of hybrid lines is calculated. Taking one typical hybrid line as example in Kunming power grid, detailed models of it was built up in PSCAD/EMTDC. A large number of simulations for various reclosure angle were performed. Factors affecting the over-voltage caused by auto-reclosure are analyzed. And the mid-time method for judging the fault region is presented. The theory reference that whether reclosure should be put into operation on 110 kV overhead-underground hybrid lines of Kunming power grid is provided.

The photobleaching and formation of photoproduct of hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME) was investigated in solution by fluorescence spectroscopy. Irradiation was performed by 532 nm double-frequency Nd : YAG laser at a fluence rate of 100 mW x cm(-2), meanwhile the collection of fluorescence spectra was implemented an by optical multi-channel analyzer (OMA). Utilizing the basis spectra constructed and least-square fitting, the intensity of HMME fluorescence (613 nm), photoproduct fluorescence (639 nm) and autofluorescence can be resolved respectively from the single measured spectrum. The correlation between fluorescence intensity and the concentration of HMME is consistent with linear function at concentrations not exceeding 10 microg x mL(-1). Monitoring the fluorescence spectroscopy during irradiation, three kinds of information were obtained, including photobleaching of HMME, formation and bleaching of photoproduct, as well as variation to fluorescence intensity due to the change of sample optical properties. Product generated by bleaching of photoproduct causes significant in sample optical properties. The implementation of fluorescence spectroscopy measurement and spectral analysis method presented here can be utilized effectively for both ex vivo investigation of photobleaching characteristics of photosensitizer and in vivo monitoring for dosimetry in photodynamic therapy.