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ObjectiveThis study examined the prevalence of exposure to secondhand smoke, its correlates and its association with quality of life (QOL) among pregnant and postnatal Chinese women.DesignThis was a multicentre, cross-sectional study.SettingParticipants were consecutively recruited from eight tertiary hospitals located in eight municipalities or provinces in China.ParticipantsA total of 1140 women were invited to join this study and 992 (87.02%) completed all measures.Primary and secondary outcomeMeasures women’s secondhand smoking behaviour (frequency and location of exposure to secondhand smoking), and their QOL measured by the WHO Quality of Life Questionnaire.ResultsA total of 211 women (21.3%, 95% CI 18.7% to 23.8%) had been exposed to secondhand smoking. Exposure to secondhand smoking was most common in public areas (56.4%), and residential homes (20.5%), while workplaces had the lowest rate of exposure (13.7%). Women with physical comorbidities were more likely to report secondhand smoking exposure, while older women, women living in urban areas, those with college or higher education level, and women in their second trimester were less likely to report exposure to secondhand smoking. Network analysis revealed that there were six significant links between secondhand smoke and QOL items. The strongest negative edge was the connection between secondhand smoke and QOL9 (‘physical environment health’, edge weight=−0.060), while the strongest positive edge was the connection between secondhand smoke and QOL3 (‘pain and discomfort’, edge weight=0.037).ConclusionThe prevalence of exposure to secondhand smoking is becoming lower among pregnant and postnatal women in China compared with findings reported in previous studies. Legal legislation should be maintained and promptly enforced to establish smoke-free environments in both public and private urban/rural areas for protection of pregnant and postnatal women, especially those who are physically vulnerable and less educated.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a common pathogen that infects more than half of the world's population. Its infection can not only lead to a variety of gastrointestinal diseases, such as chronic gastritis and gastric cancer (GC) but also be associated with many extra-gastrointestinal diseases. Exosomes, as a new intercellular information transmission medium, can carry biological signal molecules such as microRNAs (miRNAs) to regulate a variety of cellular physiological activities and are involved in multiple cancer processes. In this article, we provide a systematic review on the role of exosomal miRNAs in H. pylori-associated GC.

To explore the size effect of asphalt mixture, asphalt mastic asphalt mixture was taken as the research object, and the uniaxial compressive strength was used as the evaluation index. The applicability of the three size effect theories of Bazant, Carpinteri, and Weibull were evaluated, and the corresponding size effect law parameters were calculated. The critical dimensions and critical strength of the asphalt mixture were determined, and the effects of coarse aggregate properties, maximum nominal particle size, and loading rate on the size effect of asphalt mixture were analyzed. Results show that the asphalt mixture has an obvious size effect phenomenon, and the uniaxial compressive stress-strain curves of asphalt samples with different sizes have the characteristics of compaction stage, elastic stage, and transition from plastic deformation to failure stage. The uniaxial compressive strength of the asphalt mixture is negatively correlated with the sample size, and as the sample size increases, the strength reduction decreases gradually. With the increase in the elastic modulus of the coarse aggregate, the critical strength value increases continuously, and the critical dimension decreases. As the maximum nominal particle size increases, the critical dimension and critical strength increase gradually. With the increase in the loading rate, the critical strength continues to increase, and the critical dimension gradually decreases. The Bazant and Carpinteri size effect laws are more suitable for the analysis of the size effect of asphalt mixture, while the Weibull size effect law has a large error. When SMA is used as the pavement structural layer, the ratio S of the structural layer thickness to the maximum nominal particle size calculated by the Bazant size effect law is 2.6 to 3.5, and the S range calculated by the Carpinteri size effect law is 2.6 to 4.0.

Objective Excessive Internet use is a common health problem globally. This study aimed to assess the prevalence, correlates, and network structure of Internet addiction symptoms (Internet addiction hereafter) among Chinese pregnant and postpartum women. Methods This was a multicenter cross-sectional study using Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) to evaluate Internet addiction and quality of life (QOL), respectively. Univariate analyses, multivariate logistic regression analyses, and network analyses were performed. Results Of a total of 1,060 women who completed the study, 320 (30.19%, 95% CI=27.42%-32.96%) women reported Internet addiction during or after pregnancy. Women with previous adverse pregnancy experiences (OR=1.831, P=0.001) and physical comorbidities (OR=1.724, P=0.004) had a higher likelihood of developing Internet addiction. Internet addiction was significantly associated with poor QOL in all domains. Network analyses revealed that IAT item 16 (request an extension for longer time spent online) was the most central symptom in the analyses, and also one of the strongest bridging symptoms linking the Internet addiction and QOL communities. Limitations This was a cross-sectional study, all study findings were based on self-reported data, and possible recall bias and selection bias may exist. Conclusion Internet addiction is common among Chinese pregnant and postpartum women, and is significantly associated with lower QOL. Effective strategies, especially focusing on central symptoms, are needed to reduce the impact of Internet addiction and improve QOL in pregnant and postpartum women.

Background: This study examined the prevalence of depressive symptoms (depression hereafter) and its association with quality of life (QOL) among pregnant and postnatal women in China.Methods: In this multi-center, cross-sectional study, 1,060 pregnant and postnatal women from eight hospitals were assessed. Depression and QOL were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire - brief version, respectively.Results: The prevalence of depression was 7.45% (95% CI: 5.87–9.04%) in the sample. Women with depression had lower QOL in physical, psychological, social and environmental domains compared to those without. Women with physical comorbidities were more likely to suffer from depression (OR = 2.391, 95% CI = 1.384–4.130, P = 0.002).Conclusion: Due to its negative association with QOL, increased attention should be paid to depression in pregnant and postnatal women. Regular screening assessment and preventive measures should be adopted to reduce risk of depression in this population.

To evaluate the necessity and safety of preoperative oral carbohydrates in enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols for diabetes mellitus patients. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WANFANG databases for articles published through September 2018. We used the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool to assess the methodological quality of included studies. Literature screening, data extraction, and quality evaluation were performed independently by two investigators. Of the 6328 retrieved articles, five eligible randomized controlled trials were included. Two were from China and three were from Germany, Sweden, and Canada. Preoperative oral carbohydrates may facilitate control of preoperative blood glucose, improve postoperative insulin resistance in diabetes patients, and decrease the occurrence of adverse reactions. However, the overall quality of the included studies was low. The available evidence shows that preoperative oral carbohydrates are probably beneficial for patients with diabetes mellitus. High-quality, large randomized controlled trials are needed to verify our findings and provide quantitative results.

A new series of multi-arm liquid crystals (D1–D5) based on cholic acid as the chiral core and ω-[4-(p-substituted azobenzeneoxy carbonyl]valeric acid (B1–B5) as the mesogenic arms were designed and...

Li-Na Ge,1 Feng Wang2 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China; 2Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China Purpose: To comprehensively assess the impact of preoperative serum albumin levels on survival of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Materials and methods: Two independent researchers searched the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases to identify relevant studies from inception to October 20, 2017. The studies were independently reviewed and those deemed eligible were selected based on predetermined selection criteria. Summarized HRs and 95% CIs were calculated for overall survival (OS) with a profile likelihood random-effects model. Results: Twelve cohort studies comprising 3884 EOC patients were included for analysis. Comparison of the highest vs the lowest categories of preoperative serum albumin yielded a summarized HR of 0.63 (95% CI=0.45–0.88, I2=88.8%). Although the results were robust in all subgroup analyses stratified by International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, cutoff definition, geographical location, quality of study, number of EOC cases, follow-up time, and adjustments made for potential confounders, not all were statistically significant. Of note, dose–response analysis showed that for each 10 g/L increment in preoperative serum albumin level, the summary HR was 0.56 (95% CI=0.35–0.92, I2=78.6%). No evidence of publication bias was detected by funnel plot analysis and formal statistical tests. Sensitivity analyses showed no important differences in the estimates of effects. Conclusion: The present meta-analysis suggests that preoperative serum albumin can be used as an independent prognostic predictor of OS in EOC patients. Since the included studies had high heterogeneity and retrospective designs, these results require further validation with prospective cohort trials enrolling larger patient populations with longer follow-up examinations. Keywords: albumin, meta-analysis, ovarian cancer, preoperative, prognosis

A new series of multi-arm chiral liquid crystals (LCs) D1–D3 were synthesised and characterised. Cholic acid was used as the core and ω-[4-(p-alkoxybenzoloxy)phenoxycarbonyl]valeric acid (B1–B3) wa...

For overcoming the shortage of Otsu method, proposed an improved Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm. On the basis of Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm, the gray level was divided into two classes according to the image segmentation, to determine the best threshold by comparing their center distance, so as to achieve peak line recognition under the condition of multiple gray levels. Then did experiments on image segmentation of the lane line with MATLAB by traditional Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm and the improved algorithm, the threshold of traditional Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm is 144 and the threshold of the improved Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm is 131, the processing time is within 0.453 s. Test results show that the white part markings appear more, the intersection place of white lines and the background is more clear, so this method can identify lane markings well and meet the real-time requirements.

In this paper, the equivalent mechanical spring model of the three-dimensional continuum is studied. By using stiffness calculation formulas of three-dimensional continuum column under axial force and bending force, which are primary force states in the column, a mechanical equivalent trusses model with the same width and height is derived. The equivalent model is statically indeterminate trusses system of spring. The 3D spring calculation model can be used in the dynamic characteristic analysis. With the comparison of the first four order frequency values between the solid model and the equivalent spring model, it shows that the equivalent spring model not only have the equivalent stiffness in the static analysis but also have the equivalent dynamic characteristics in the dynamic analysis.

A simple and efficient explicit scheme of triangular planar element with rotation degrees of freedom is proposed in this paper. The basic fundamental solutions of plane elasticity problem based on Airy stress functions are used as trial functions to construct triangular element with drilling degrees of freedom. During the construction of element model, the explicit expression of element stiffness matrix is deduced by means of triangular area coordinates integration method, instead of numerical integration method. Numerical calculation indicates that the element constructed in this paper is of high precision but less computational cost.

To evaluate the repeatability and agreement of central and peripheral corneal thickness (CT) measurements by high resolution Pentacam rotating Scheimpflug photography and Visante optical coherence tomography (OCT) in unoperated myopic eyes and eyes after Laser In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK).CT at central, thinnest, 1.0 mm and 2.5 mm superior, inferior, nasal and temporal periphery locations, and the location of the corneal thinnest thickness were measured using Pentacam and Visante OCT in 60 myopia patients (60 eyes) and 60 patients (60 eyes) after LASIK. The results were analyzed by paired-t test, Pearson correlation analysis and Bland-Altman method.Both Pentacam and Visante OCT demonstrated high intraobserver repeatability, with all intraclass correlation coefficients and Cronbach's alphas were more than 0.9, and coefficient of variation were less than 0.9%. Significantly higher CoV was measured with Pentacam than by Visante OCT in at central (0.46 ± 0.30), thinnest (0.43 ± 0.28) and 1.0 mm locations in both groups (t = 2.465, 2.226, P0.05), but no statistically significant difference were found at 2.5 mm locations in healthy subjects and all locations in post-LASIK eyes (t = -0.518, 1.542, -0.876, 0.756, P0.05). The thickness of central corneal with Pentacam was (543.01 ± 22.89) µm, the thinnest point was (540.61 ± 22.84) µm, they were greater than the value of Visante OCT (t = 17.946, 23.071, P0.05). The Pearson correlation coefficients were all more than 0.9 (all r0.9, P0.01). The Bland-Altman plots showed the 95% LoA between both devices were lower than 22 µm at central, thinnest and 1.0 mm locations. However, the 95% LoA were 24 µm to 44 µm at 2.5 mm locations.Pentacam and Visante OCT demonstrate high repeatability for central and peripheral CT measurements in young myopia and post-LASIK eyes. However, both devices can't be used interchangeably for measurements of peripheral CT.

This paper presents a novel way to formulate the triangular flat shell element. The basic analytical solutions of membrane and bending plate problem for anisotropy material are studied separately. Combining with the conforming displacement along the sides and hybrid element strategy, the triangular flat shell elements based on the analytical trial functions (ATF) for anisotropy material are formulated. By using the explicit integral formulae of the triangular element, the matrices used in proposed shell element are calculated efficiently. The benchmark examples showed the high accuracy and high efficiency.

To evaluate the accumulation of submacular fluid after surgery for retinal detachment.It was a case control study. Sixty seven eyes of sixty six patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment which had undergone par plana vitrectomy (PPV) or buckle surgery for retinal detachment were recruited. All patients underwent clinical examination, optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan of the macular at the 1-month postoperative follow-up examination.Submacular fluid after PPV occurred in 21.7% eyes, and was significantly lower than that after buckle surgery(47.7%, chi2 = 4.296, P0.05). No significantly differences of submacular fluid rate were found between different surgical technique groups (cryotherapy, transscleral diode photocoagulation, with or without drainage of subretinal fluid) in our buckle surgery series (chi2 = 0.091, 1.588; P0.05). There was statistically significant difference in the rate of submacular fluid in cases of buckle surgery series with or without macular detachment (chi2 = 9.537, P0.01). Visual acuity improved for 2 lines or more accounted for 80.8% eyes in patients with submacular fluid and for 80.1% eyes in patients without submacular fluid. Comparison of pre- and postoperative LogMAR between these two groups showed no significant difference (F = 0.162, P = 0.688).The rate of submacular fluid is much lower after PPV than after buckle surgery. Different surgical techniques used in buckle surgery such as cryotherapy or transscleral diode photocoagulation and with or without drainage of subretinal fluid do not influence the rate of postoperative submacular fluid. The rate of submacular fluid is much lower in eyes without macular detachment than in eyes with macular detachment in buckle surgery series.

A user authentication scheme based upon the properties of Euclidean geometry properties is proposed. The center authority (CA) constructs the shared information by using both its secret and the userpsilas password in the user registration phase. Then the request message is computed by using both the userpsilas password and the registered information based on properties of Euclidean geometry and one-way hash functions. In the system verification phase, the CA verifies the validity of a user based on its request message and the CApsilas secrets. Only the CA can do the verification because only it knows its secret. The verification is fast because it does not need to access the database and its computation is simple. The timestamp allows the proposed scheme to withstand replay attacks. The security analysis shows that our scheme is also secure against eavesdropping attacks, and dictionary attacks. A formal approach is adopted to prove the proposed scheme is secure. The experimental results show that our scheme is more applicable for large-scale network environments than a password-based system or a PKI certificate-based system.

To study the pollution status of Legionella species in hot spring vacation center and the related factors.Field surveys were performed in four big hot spring vacation centers of Changping district. Uniform questionnaires was used and colony count was made together with the isolation of Legionella species from hot spring water based on mip gene typing.47 isolates of Legionella pneumophila (Lp) from 87 samples showed 4 serotypes as Lp1, Lp6, Lp12, Lp5 with percent of 57.45%, 21.28%, 14.89%, 6.38% respectively. The hot spring centers controlled the temperature of recycled water between 34-47 degrees C by hot water heating and filtrating system. All the isolates were cultured from the hot water with temperature between 34-44 degrees C: 56.75% (21/37) in high temperature (40-47 degrees C) and 61.90% (26/42) in low temperature (34-39.9 degrees C). There were no statistically significant difference between the high and the low temperature samples (P0.05). In the four hot spring vacation centers, the pH value was under control at 6.4-7.3 and the ambient temperature was under control between 26-28 degrees C. The humidity was controlled between 56% -69% relative humidity, which were the best growing conditions for the Legionella species. Disinfectors as chlorine deviratives was used in the four hot spring vacation centers. Though the concentration of chlorine in the water was 0.3-0.5 mg/L, 14.29%-48.00% of the samples were still positive of having Legionella species.The pollution of Legionella species was considered to be quite serious in the four hot spring vacation centers and the predominant serotype was Lp1. The pH and temperature of the hot spring water, ambient temperature and humidity and the way of heating up the water were the best conditions for the growth of Legionella species in these centers. Because of the high temperature of the hot spring water, chlorine of the disinfector volatilized quickly, affecting the effect of disinfection. The result revealed that water temperature achieving 44 degrees C could have had the effect of prevention.