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Helicobacter pylori infection (HPI) is a prevalent infectious disease associated with gastric ulcer, gastric cancer, and many nongastrointestinal disorders. To identify genes that may serve as microbial markers for HPI, we performed shotgun metagenomic sequencing of fecal samples from 313 Chinese volunteers who had undergone a C14 breath test. Through comparing differences in intestinal microbial community structure between H. pylori‐positive and H. pylori‐negative individuals, we identified 58 HPI‐associated microbial species (P

Abstract. Background:. At present, there is no available delirium translated assessment method for 3.3 million Tibetans. This study aimed to provide a method for delirium assessment for Tibetan patients speaking this language by validating a translation of the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU). Methods:. The study was conducted between July 2018 and November 2018. Patients were screened for delirium by a neurologist using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV). Patients were subsequently screened by two nurses using Tibetan translations of the CAM-ICU. With DSM-IV criterion as the reference standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated to assess the validity of the CAM-ICU criterion. Interrater reliability was determined by comparing the CAM-ICU ratings of nurse 1 vs. nurse 2 using the κ coefficient. Results:. Ninety-six patients were assessed independently by two nurses and one neurologist. According to DSM-IV standard, 42 out of 96 (43.8%) patients developed delirium. The sensitivities of Tibetan CAM-ICU were 90.5% for nurse 1 and 92.9% for nurse 2, respectively. Their specificities were 85.2% and 90.7%, respectively. The PPV were 82.6% for nurse 1 and 88.6% for nurse 2. Their NPV were 92.0% and 94.2%, respectively. The Tibetan CAM-ICU was done with good interrater reliability between nurse 1 and nurse 2 (κ = 0.91, P

The mathematical formulation of the Muskingum method, like that of many numerical schemes used for river routing, requires that all upstream river reaches be updated prior to updating the flow rate of any given reach. Due to this topological constraint, such numerical schemes have traditionally been solved in an upstream-to-downstream manner which imposes inherent limitations on the speedup that can be achieved in a parallel computing environment because each computing core has to wait for completion of all cores addressing upstream subbasins prior to starting its own subbasin. The research presented in this paper quantifies the exact influence among river reaches during the update step of the Muskingum method and shows that the influence decreases with increasing distance between two reaches until it becomes too small to be accounted for by floating-point arithmetic. A formal definition of the minimal distance from which the relative influence becomes numerically inexistent—the radius of influence—is presented. Based on this distance, expressed as a number of river reaches, a new estimate of the maximum theoretical speedup that can be achieved by the Muskingum method or by similar numerical schemes is presented and implies large potential gains in computing time when domains are much larger than the radius of influence. An application to the approximately 180,000 river reaches of the Upper Mississippi River Basin at a 15 min time step over 2004 shows a radius of influence on the order of 150 river reaches. The speedup obtained for this application is much higher than previously thought possible but also much lower than could be attained, suggesting that further investigations are necessary.

Depression is becoming a major public health concern worldwide. Si-Ni-San (SNS) is a famous formula in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with potent antidepressant effects. However, the antidepressant mechanism of SNS has not been clearly elucidated. This study was performed to verify whether the antidepressant effects of SNS were related to its anti-inflammatory effects, the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymatic activity. In our study, behavioral tests such as the forced swim test, sucrose preference test and open-field test were evaluated to ensure the establishment of depressive rats. The levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in the serum, liver, and hippocampus of rats were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Furthermore, the key proteins NF-κB, BDNF, and TrkB were analyzed by Western blot (WB) analysis in the hippocampus. In addition, CYP450 enzymatic activity analysis was performed using LC-MS/MS in conjunction with drug and statistics (DAS 3.0) after oral administration of six probe drugs. Our results showed that SNS attenuated reserpine-induced increases in IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α expression in the serum, liver, and hippocampus. The levels of NF-κB, BDNF, and TrkB in the hippocampus of depressive rats were also altered. According to the pharmacokinetic parameters, SNS had moderate inhibitory effects in the reserpine-induced depression model on CYP1A2, CYP2D1, CYP2E1, and CYP3A2, but no significant metabolic changes to CYP2C6 and CYP2D2. These findings suggested that SNS has a protective effect on reserpine-induced depressive rats, which may be related to the improvement of the inflammatory factors, the level of BDNF and the activity of CYP450 enzymes.

In recent years, algae bloom phenomenon outbreaks frequently in large-scale water bodies during summer. At present, mechanical method is used to collect cyanobacteria and reduce volume. However, the characteristics of algae, namely high viscosity, small particle size and high moisture content, lead to poor efficiency of dehydration. In order to improve the dehydration efficiency of algae and achieve the purpose of volume reduction and dehydration, the dehydration performance of Microcystis aeruginosa was studied in this paper. Three filter aid agent, including Poly Aluminium Chloride (PAC), Montmorillonite and Diatomite were added to the algae solution to improve filterability of Microcystis aeruginosa. The results showed that all of three filter aid agent have positive effect on the algae filtration rate, specific resistance, compression index and dehydration efficiency. Compared with the other two filter aid agents, the filtration rate of Diatomite is relatively faster. Meanwhile dehydration performance is better as well. When the dosage of Diatomite was 10.0g/L, the filtration rate increased from 0.108 L/h to 0.504 L/h. In addition, the compression index was reduced from 0.710 to 0.594. The specific resistance was reduced from 7.62 × 1010 s2/g to 2.35 × 108 s2 /g while the water content was decreased from 86.5% to 66.4%.

We use Monte Carlo analysis to show that explicit representation of an aquifer within a land-surface model (LSM) decreases the dependence of model performance on accurate selection of subsurface hydrologic parameters. Within the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Land Model (CLM) we evaluate three parameterizations of vertical water flow: (1) a shallow soil profile that is characteristic of standard LSMs; (2) an extended soil profile that allows for greater variation in terrestrial water storage; and (3) a lumped, unconfined aquifer model coupled to the shallow soil profile. North American Land Data Assimilation System meteorological forcing data (1997–2005) drive the models as a single column representing Illinois, USA. The three versions of CLM are each run 22,500 times using a random sample of the parameter space for soil texture and key hydrologic parameters. Other parameters remain constant. Observation-based monthly changes in state-averaged terrestrial water storage (dTWS) are used to evaluate the model simulations. After single-criteria parameter exploration, the schemes are equivalently adept at simulating dTWS. However, explicit representation of groundwater considerably decreases the sensitivity of modeled dTWS to errant parameter choices. We show that approximate knowledge of parameter values is not sufficient to guarantee realistic model performance: because interaction among parameters is significant, they must be prescribed as a congruent set.

High-MgO (>9 wt %) basaltic rocks can be primary magmas and are used to constrain the geochemistry and temperature of the mantle. However, high MgO contents can also result from mixing between evolved melts and antecrysts or xenocrysts, and thus, the whole-rock composition might not represent the solidified equivalents of primary magma. Whether such mixing with crystals can result in erroneous interpretations of mantle processes remains unclear. This study presents a petrological and geochemical investigation of the post-collision high-MgO (>9 wt %) Lugu volcanic rocks in the southern Qiangtang terrane, central Tibet. The Lugu volcanic rocks comprise porphyritic and intersertal alkali basalts. Zircon U–Pb ages and 40Ar/39Ar dating suggest that the two types of alkali basalts were erupted at c. 29 Ma. Based on detailed petrographic observations and geochemical analysis, the porphyritic alkali basalts may represent near-primary melts, which are characterised by low SiO2 contents (40.9–45.1 wt %), high CaO/Al2O3 ratios (1.1–1.5), and arc-like trace element patterns. We suggest these basalts were derived by partial melting of enriched garnet peridotite (>3 GPa) in the presence of H2O and CO2. These geochemical features are different from those of the c. 30-Ma (ultra)-potassic rocks in the Qiangtang terrane, indicating that a heterogeneous lithospheric mantle existed beneath the Qiangtang terrane during the Oligocene. In contrast, although the intersertal alkali basalts have high MgO contents (>9 wt %), evidence from mineral chemistry indicates that the whole-rock compositions of the intersertal alkali basalts represent mixtures of evolved residual melts and cumulate crystals. They were the product of polybaric fractional crystallisation and the subsequent mixing of crystals and residual melts in a magmatic plumbing system. Furthermore, when intersertal alkali basalts are assumed to be primary melts, they would have been derived by partial melting of shallow (~2.5 GPa) CO2-poor pyroxenite or peridotite. These conditions are different from interpretations of the nature of the mantle source and melting conditions for porphyritic alkali basalts. Our results highlight that the interpretation of petrogenetic processes should be preceded by detailed mineralogical investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research indicates that learning from erroneous examples (EE) is superior to correct examples because errors may provide students with a stimulus to spontaneously produce more self-explanations, leading to better learning outcomes. However, because most studies were conducted in individual settings, it remains an open question whether the advantage of EE could be reproduced in collaborative settings. Therefore, this study used a 2 × 2 factorial design varying in example types (correct vs. erroneous examples) and learning settings (individuals vs. collaboration). An experimental study of a 2-week course on subtraction for third grade students was conducted (N = 109). Results indicated that collaborative learning may enhance the transfer knowledge of subtraction. The improvements were still maintained over 2 weeks. In addition, collaboration also facilitated students' confidence in handling errors. However, there was no significant difference in promoting isomorphic and transfer knowledge between learning from correct and erroneous examples. Additionally, this study also explored the absence of the intended benefit of erroneous examples from a cognitive load perspective.