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Li-Ping Yin,1 Fan Wang,2 Qian Li,2 Xiao-Ning Feng,3 Yan-Ling Li,2 Ling-Ling Li2 1Department of Oncology, The First Hospital Xingtai, Xingtai, Hebei, 054001, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Tuberculosis, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei, 071000, People’s Republic of China; 3Dosing Center, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei, 071000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ling-Ling Li, Department of Tuberculosis, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, No. 648 of Dongfeng East Road, Lianchi District, Baoding, Hebei, 071000, People’s Republic of China, Email lin1697g@126.comBackground: Patient safety is an important aspect of healthcare delivery and is critical to healthcare quality. An assessment of the attitudes of nursing staff in infectious diseases wards towards patient safety may identify deficiencies and allow for the development of educational programmes to train nursing staff to participate in good patient safety practices.Objective: To explore the current situation and influencing factors on nurses’ attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards.Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 446 nurses from infectious diseases wards in eight hospitals in the Hebei Province to participate in an electronic questionnaire survey from October to December 2020. The Chinese version of the safety attitude questionnaire was used to gather the opinions of these participants, and SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used to analyse the data.Results: The average score of safety attitudes towards patients was 3.59 ± 0.30. The scores for each dimension, from high to low, were as follows: management perception: 3.77 ± 0.42 points, pressure perception: 3.77 ± 0.42 points, safety atmosphere: 3.57 ± 0.43 points, job satisfaction: 3.57 ± 0.43 points, teamwork: 3.55 ± 0.50 points and working conditions: 3.50 ± 0.45 points. The results of the multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the influential factors on nurses’ attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards were as follows: night shift working (β = 11.885, P = 0.000), years of nursing experience (β = 2.862, P = 0.001), education level (β = 4.462, P = 0.001) and marital status (β = 3.871, P = 1.002), which together explained 33.5% of the total variance.Conclusion: Nurses’ attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards were moderately high. Night shift work, years of nursing experience, education level and marital status affected nurses’ attitudes towards patient safety. Managers should focus on these groups of nurses and improve their working conditions and job satisfaction to further enhance patient safety.Keywords: infectious diseases wards, the nurse, patient safety attitude, influencing factors

Prevention of African swine fever, a disease caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV), requires maintenance of high biosecurity standards, which principally relies on disinfection. Finding the perfect disinfectant against ASFV is difficult because of the lack of relevant data. Therefore, we aimed to find the most effective disinfectant and to optimise its concentration as well as contact time to confirm the viricidal effect against ASFV in vitro. We evaluated the viricidal activity of three concentrations each of six common disinfectants against ASFV using immersion disinfection assay (IDA) and spray disinfection assay (SDA); the concentrations of these disinfectants at which complete viral inactivation occurred were almost same as the manufacturer-recommended concentrations, but the exposure times for viral inactivation are different. The following disinfectants (assay: concentration, exposure time) showed complete inactivation: iodine and acid mixed solution (IDA/SDA: 0.5%, 10 min); compound potassium peroxymonosulfate (IDA: 0.25%, 30 min; SDA: 0.25%, 60 min); citric acid (IDA: 0.25%, 60 min; SDA: 0.5%, 60 min); sodium dichloroisocyanurate (IDA: 0.125%, 60 min; SDA: 0.25%, 60 min); and glutaral ang deciquam (IDA/SDA: 0.2%, 60 min); and deciquam (IDA/SDA: 0.5%, 60 min). However, in the presence of organic material contamination, disinfectants did not show a marked inactivation effect. Therefore, disinfection procedures should be performed in two steps: thorough mechanical cleaning followed by application of disinfectant. In conclusion, all the tested disinfectants can inactivate ASFV; these can be used as alternative disinfectants to enhance biosecurity.

Lower mean platelet volume (MPV) is an indicator of platelet activity in the setting of tumor development. This study was to assess the relationship between preoperative MPV and survival outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following liver transplantation (LT).The demographic and clinical characteristics of 304 HCC patients following LT were retrieved from an LT database. All the patients were divided into the normal and lower MPV groups according to the median MPV. The factors were first analyzed using a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, then the factors with P0.10 were selected for multivariate Cox regression analysis and were used to define the independent risk factors for poor prognosis.The 1-, 3-, and 5-year tumor free survival was 95.34%, 74.67% and 69.29% in the normal MPV group, respectively, and 95.40%, 59.97% and 42.94% in the lower MPV group, respectively (P 0.01). No significant difference was observed in post-LT complications between the normal and lower MPV groups. Portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) [hazard ratio (HR = 2.24; 95% confidence interval: 1.46-3.43; P 0.01) and lower MPV (HR = 1.58; 95% confidence interval: 1.05-2.36; P = 0.03) were identified as independent prognostic risk factors for recipient survival.Preoperative lower MPV is a risk indicator of HCC patients survival outcomes after LT.

Cholangitis, bacteremia, and pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) can be often caused by intrahepatic bile ducts stone (IBDS), which is endemic to South-East Asia. The association between IBDS and cholangiocarcinoma has been well recognized. Concomitant cholangiocarcinoma in the PLA related to IBDS is often missed.A case-control study consisting of 64 patients with PLA related to IBDS and 256 control patients with PLA not related to IBDS was used to investigate clinical features of PLA and incidence of concomitant cholangiocarcinoma in patients with PLA related to IBDS.The main imaging manifestations of PLA related to IBDS was cystic-solid lesions and solid lesions. Of seven patients (10.9%) with pathology-proven cholangiocarcinoma in the same area of PLA related to IBDS among 64 patients, only two patients were initially diagnosed as having concomitant cholangiocarcinoma by biopsy, and other five patients diagnosed as acute inflammatory lesion. Within 60 days after onset, the infection-related death rate and recurrence rate in patients with PLA related to IBDS were 12.9% and 20.3%, respectively, whereas in patients with PLA not related to IBDS were 3.9% and 3.1%, respectively. Only 25% of patients with PLA related to IBDS underwent surgery after admission. The main pathogens in PLA patients related to IBDS were Escherichia coli and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae.The imaging manifestations of PLA related to IBDS often present cystic-solid or solid lesions. PLA related to IBDS is characterized by high rate of recurrence and infection-related death, difficulty in diagnosis of concomitant cholangicarcinoma.

This article has established numerous entity assembly models of internal gear pair with small tooth number difference of stub gear, then calculates the bending stress of multi-tooth meshing by means of FEM, determines bending strength factor of multi-tooth meshing, and forms the calculation method of bending strength based on influence by multi-tooth meshing.

The FTIR-ATR spectra of Na 2 SO 4 and mixed Na 2 SO 4 /glycerol (1:1) aerosols are monitored in the dehumidifying and humidifying process. It shows that glycerol suppresses both heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation of Na 2 SO 4 /glycerol aerosols on the ZnSe substrate, while the water uptake of surrounding glycerol leads to lower deliquescence relative humidity of mixed Na 2 SO 4 /glycerol aerosols. In mixed Na 2 SO 4 /glycerol aerosols, glycerol restrains the formation of contact ion pairs between Na + and SO 4 2− , resulting in the delay of the efflorescence relative humidity. And glycerol molecular conformations transform from γγ to αα type in the dehumidifying process.

This document explains and demonstrates how to reduce water phase trapping in tight gas reservoirs during drilling. The water phase trapping laboratory device and experiment method has been studied, through the experiments on reservoir water phase trapping of western Sichuan Basin in China, Knowing that the damage is very serious, water self absorption experiments with different periods show that porosity and permeability of cores are basically above 50%. for the reason, the high capillary pressure and low water saturation are the main factors. Water phase trapping damage prevention measures has been put forward, including avoiding using water-based operating fluid as much as possible, minimizing or even avoiding the invasion of water-based operating fluid, and reducing interfacial tension and promote smooth operating fluid flow back.

This article has carried out systematic research on the multi-tooth meshing problem of involute internal gear pairs with small tooth number difference of normal gear. It firstly establishes the entity assembly model of internal gear pairs with precise tooth profile, then determines the number of multi-tooth meshing teeth pairs with finite element software and finally analyzes the main factors and reason affecting the number of meshing teeth pairs. In the range of tooth number of internal gear equal to 40-200, the conclusion is that when tooth number difference equal to 1 the number of effective meshing teeth pairs is 3-15,when tooth number difference equal to 5 the number of effective meshing teeth pairs is 3-11. The main factors affecting the number of meshing teeth pairs are tooth number and tooth number difference. The fewer tooth number is and the greater tooth number difference is, the fewer the number of meshing teeth pairs is. The reason is that when tooth number is obviously reduced or tooth number difference is obviously increased, the clearance of adjacent gear surface will be greatly increased, which will cause the decrease of the number of meshing teeth pairs. Within the normal value scope of modification coefficient difference of involute internal gear pairs with small tooth number difference, the influence of modification coefficient difference and modification coefficient is very small. When the torque increases, the number of effective contacting teech pairs will keep unchanged. The research in this article provides reference for the calculation of loading capacity of multi-tooth meshing of internal gear pairs with small tooth number difference of normal gear.

This article has carried out systematic research on the multi-tooth meshing problem of involute internal gear pairs with small tooth number difference of stub gear. It firstly establishes the entity assembly model of internal gear pairs with precise tooth profile, then determines the number of multi-tooth meshing teeth pairs with finite element software and finally analyzes the main factors and reason affecting the number of meshing teeth pairs. In the range of tooth number of internal gear equal to 40-150, the conclusion is that when tooth number difference equal to 1 the number of effective meshing teeth pairs is 2-10,when tooth number difference equal to 5 the number of effective meshing teeth pairs is 2-8. The main factors affecting the number of meshing teeth pairs are tooth number and tooth number difference. The fewer tooth number is and the greater tooth number difference is, the fewer the number of meshing teeth pairs is. The reason is that when tooth number is obviously reduced or tooth number difference is obviously increased, the clearance of adjacent gear surface will be greatly increased, which will cause the decrease of the number of meshing teeth pairs. Within the normal value scope of modification coefficient difference of involute internal gear pairs with small tooth number difference, the influence of modification coefficient difference and modification coefficient is very small. When the torque increases, the number of effective contacting teech pairs will keep unchanged. The research in this article provides reference for the calculation of loading capacity of multi-tooth meshing of internal gear pairs with small tooth number difference of stub gear

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is considered as a promising anticancer agent, it induced apoptosis in cancer cells selectively without damaging the normal tissue cells. However, the resistance of cancer cells to TRAIL limits its application. Since the cancer stem cells (CSCs) are believed to be responsible for the treatment failure in multiple cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the aim of this study was to investigate the strategies to increase the sensitivity of liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) to TRAIL. In the present study, we observed significant upregulation of miR-25 in LCSCs compared with the non-CSCs. Furthermore, we found that knockdown of miR-25 by its antisense oligonucleotide (anti‑miR-25) significantly increased the sensitivity of LCSCs to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. The gene of phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN), which is a natural inhibitor of PI3K, was found to be directly regulated by miR-25 in HepG2‑CSCs. We demonstrated that knockdown of miR-25 increased the expression of PTEN. Mechanistically, inhibition of Bad phosphorylation, which is regulated by the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway, is essential for the functional roles of anti-miR-25 in HepG2-CSCs. In conclusion, our findings indicate that overexpression of miR-25 is associated with the low-sensitivity to TRAIL in LCSCs. Knockdown of miR-25 may represent a potential strategy for increasing the efficacy of TRAIL by targeting the PTEN/PI3K/Akt/Bad signaling pathway.

Background & Aims Little is known about aetiology and morbidity and clinical characteristics of pyogenic liver abscess caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Methods An analysis between pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates and those caused by non-extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae was performed. Results Among 817 pyogenic liver abscess patients, there were 176 patients (21.5%) with pyogenic liver abscess of biliary origin, and 67 pyogenic liver abscess patients (8.2%) caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates (mainly Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). Of 176 pyogenic liver abscess patients related to biliary disorders, there were 48 pyogenic liver abscess patients (27.3%) caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Within 67 pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by Enterobacteriaceae expressing extended-spectrum beta-lactamases, the occurrences of 48 pyogenic liver abscess patients (71.6%) were associated with biliary disorders. When compared with pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by non-extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, there were significantly greater incidences of polymicrobial infections, bacteremia, pulmonary infection, recurrence and death in pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Carbapenems remain mainstay drugs against extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Independent risk factors for occurrence of pyogenic liver abscess caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae were biliary disorders including extra- and intrahepatic cholangiolithiasis and an abnormal bilioenteric communication between bile and gut, a treatment history of malignancy such as operation and chemotherapy, pulmonary infection, and diabetes mellitus. Conclusions Pyogenic liver abscess caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates mainly occurs in patients with biliary disorders or with a treatment history of malignancy. The mainstay of treatment remains carbapenems in combination with adequate aspiration or drainage.

The development of a large display and can control a variety of compatible lighting control system, the system is suitable for wide range control distance. Can be widely used in modern college park, landscape building, business building and landscaping all buildings, publicity, service, advertising and other large screen and lighting systems. Using large-scale high-speed FPGA technology, Gigabit fiber communication technology, through a multi-level processing and protocol conversion, can be terminal for the different display mode (divided into static, 2 sweep, sweep 4, 8, sweep, sweep five kinds of 16), data in the order, alignment methods, control methods, the preparation of their own in the FPGA, the protocol conversion module, through the software are free to choose set the display terminal type, to achieve 16 control port can be controlled separately different types of display terminal. Control distance up to 5000 meters or more. Effectively address all the original control system can not be compatible, not centralized control, can not share resources and control of the key problems of distance is too short.

Planetary gear reducer with two internal gear pairs is known as NN type reducer. It has the advantage of large transmission ratio. Through the deep comprehensive studies on transmission ratio from four NN type reducers with different structure, the author proposes a new method to analyze transmission ratio from the tooth number difference for both internal gear pairs and external gear pairs, reveals rule, feature and range of transmission ratio of NN type reducer, and provides a clear train of thought for the selection of transmission ratio.

Background The last decade has witnessed great progress in living donor liver transplantation worldwide. However, biliary complications are more common in partial liver transplantation than in whole liver transplantation. This is due to an impaired blood supply of the hilar bile duct during organ procurement and recipient surgery, commonly encountered anatomical variations, a relatively small graft duct, and complicated surgical techniques used in biliary reconstruction. Data Sources MEDLINE and PubMed were searched for articles on “living donor liver transplantation”, “biliary complication”, “anatomical variation”, “biliary reconstruction”, “stenting” and related topics. Result In this review, biliary complications were analyzed with respect to anatomical variation, surgical techniques in biliary reconstruction, and protection of the arterial plexus of the hilar bile duct. Conclusion Transecting the donor bile duct at the right place to secure a larger bile duct stump, anastomosing techniques, and stenting methods as well as preserving the blood supply to the bile duct are all important in reducing biliary complications.

This paper informally introduces colored object-oriented Petri Nets(COOPN) with the application of the AUV system. According to the characteristic of the AUV system’s running environment, the object-oriented method is used in this paper not only to dispart system modules but also construct the refined running model of AUV system, then the colored Petri Net method is used to establish hierarchically detailed model in order to get the performance analyzing information of the system. After analyzing the model implementation, the errors of architecture designing and function realization can be found. If the errors can be modified on time, the experiment time in the pool can be reduced and the cost can be saved.

Background Acute rejection (AR) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) are the two major complications leading to chronic graft dysfunction. Genomic polymorphisms in interleukin (IL)-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α and transforming growth factor (TGF)β1 genes have been found to affect the susceptibility to certain diseases. However, the relationship between cytokine gene polymorphisms and risk of AR as well as HBV recurrence after LT in Han Chinese has not been reported. The objective of the present study was to investigate the association of polymorphisms within these cytokine genes with the risk of AR as well as HBV recurrence. Methods One hundred eighty six Chinese LT recipients in which 41 patients developed AR and 29 patients experienced HBV recurrence were enrolled; 151 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals were selected as controls. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at loci of IL-10 −1082, −819, −592, and TNFα −308, −238, as well as TGFβ1 −988, −800, −509, +869, and +915 were determined by using DNA sequencing and then confirmed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Analyses of linkage disequilibrium and haplotype frequency were performed using Haploview program. Results The −819 and −592 polymorphisms in the IL-10 gene were in complete linkage (r 2 = 1). Another linkage was found at −509 and +869 in the TGFβ1 gene (r 2 = 0.66). A significant difference was observed in the distribution of allelic frequencies at position −819 and −592 in the IL-10 gene between ARs and non-ARs ( p = 0.036, OR=1.134, 95% CI 0.999–1.287 and p = 0.036, OR=1.134, 95% CI 0.999–1.287, respectively). After adjustment for a Bonferroni correction, there was no significant difference between the polymorphism and AR ( p >0.05). Furthermore, the overall genotype distribution between HBV recurrence patients and non-HBV recurrence patients was also not significantly different ( p >0.05). Conclusions Our study suggests that gene polymorphisms of IL10, TNFα, and TGFβ1 do not have a major independent role in AR and HBV recurrence after LT and may not be risk factors of AR and HBV recurrence after LT in Chinese liver transplant recipients.

We aim to evaluate the impact of early renal dysfunction (ERD), early allograft dysfunction (EAD) on post-transplant mortality, and further explore a simple and accurate model to predict prognosis.A total of 161 adult patients who underwent liver transplantation for benign end-stage liver diseases were enrolled in the retrospective study. Another 38 patients were used for model validation.Poor patient survival was associated with ERD or EAD. A post-transplant model for predicting mortality (PMPM) based on serum levels of total bilirubin and creatinine at 24-h post-transplantation was then established according to multivariate logistic regression. At 3 months, 6 months and 1 year, the area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) of PMPM score at 24-h post-transplantation (0.876, 0.878 and 0.849, respectively) were significantly higher than those of pre-transplant model for end-stage liver diseases (MELD) score (0.673, 0.674 and 0.618, respectively) or the post-transplant MELD score at 24-h post-transplantation (0.787, 0.787 and 0.781, respectively) (P0.05). Patients with PMPM scoreor=-1.4 (low-risk group, n=114) achieved better survival than those with PMPM score-1.4 (high-risk group, n=47) (P0.001). The patients in the high-risk group showed a relatively good outcome if their PMPM scores decreased toor=-1.4 at post-transplant day 7. The subsequent validation study showed that PMPM functioned with a predictive accuracy of 100%.The PMPM score could effectively predict short- and medium-term mortality in liver transplant recipients.

Advances in distributed system technology have created new possibilities for innovation in simulation and the creation of new tools and facilities that could improve the productivity of simulation. This paper describes a multi agents based collaborative simulation system for autonomous undersea vehicles. Multi-agent and the collaborative module of agents are used to resolve the problem of the existing simulation system. The detail of every agent in the system is described. In addition, the collaboration of agents and the decision rules are also introduced. The paper then presents results of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) simulation tests on the system.

To investigate the effect of plasma exchange (PE) combined with hemofiltration (HF) on liver failure.Seventy-seven inpatients with liver failure admitted during January 2006 to August 2007 were randomly assigned to receive PE combined with HF (PE+HF group, 38 cases), or PE alone (PE group, 39 cases). Forty-one inpatients with liver failure who had not received artificial liver support treatment were assigned to serve as control group. The survival rates and biochemical parameters of three groups were compared.There was no significant difference in biochemical parameters before treatment among three groups. Compared with pre-treatment values, albumin (Alb), cholinesterase (ChE) and prothrombin activity (PTA) of both PE group and PE+HF group were significantly increased after treatment, and total bilirubin (TBIL), alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) of both PE group and PE+HF group were significantly decreased after treatment (P0.05 or P0.01). The survival rate of PE group, PE+HF group and control group was 48.7% (19/39), 68.4% (26/38), and 29.3% (12/41) respectively. The survival rate of PE+HF group was significantly higher than that of control group (chi(2)=12.11, P0.01). The rate of recovery of consciousness of patients with hepatic encephalopathy in PE+HF group was higher than that of PE group (42.8% vs. 0, P0.05). Compared with PE alone, the result was better when it was combined with HF in correction of electrolyte disturbance and acid-base imbalance (19/23 vs. 0/21, P0.05).Treatment of liver failure by PE combined with HF is safe and effective, and its efficacy is higher than PE alone.

Uptake of apoptotic cells by antigen-presenting cells (APC) may be involved in tolerance maintenance with an immunoregulatory role. The aim of this study was to evaluate the consequences of preoperative transfusion of donor apoptotic lymphocytes on survival of orthotopic liver transplantations (OLT). OLT was performed between Lewis (donor) and Brown Norway (BN recipient) inbred rats using a double-cuff technique. Apoptotic splenic lymphocytes induced by ultraviolet-C (UVC) irradiation were infused intravenously at 7 days before OLT. Changes in regulatory T cells in blood were determined using flow cytometry. UVC irradiated lymphocytes were sensitive and effective, as evidenced by increased peripheral blood CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells compared with recipients that received infusion of untreated donor lymphocytes or a control. Apoptotic lymphocyte transfusion prolonged hepatic allograft survival, with significantly lower histological stages of inflammation and cellular infiltration than in untreated allografts. Our results demonstrated that donor apoptotic cells promoted allograft acceptance and up-regulated CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells (Treg) in blood.

Hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) is a frequent complication following liver transplantation, but it is rarely caused by arcuate ligament compression of the celiac artery. This article mainly describes our experience in managing a patient with celiac artery stenosis and HAT after liver transplantation.A 44-year-old man with a 15-year history of hepatitis B was admitted to our hospital for hepatocellular carcinoma. Before the operation, he received transarterial chemoembolization once, and pretransplant MR angiography indicated a suspected stenosis at the initiation of the celiac artery, while color Doppler showed normal blood flow in the arterial system. In this case, orthotopic liver transplantation was performed for radical cure of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, B-ultrasonography detected poor blood flow in the intra- and extra-hepatic artery on the first posttransplant day, and during exploratory laparotomy a thrombus was found in the hepatic artery. Thus, re-transplantation was conducted with a bypass between the graft hepatic artery and the recipient abdominal aorta with the donor's splenic artery.The patient made an uneventful recovery and color Doppler showed good blood flow in the artery and portal system. Histology confirmed extensive thrombosis in the left and right hepatic artery of the explanted graft, indicating HAT.Although HAT caused by celiac trunk compression is rarely reported in liver transplantation, the diagnosis should be considered in patients with pretransplant hepatic artery stenosis on angiography and abnormal blood flow on B-ultrasonography. Once HAT is formed, treatment such as thrombectomy or re-transplantation should be performed as early as possible.

Background: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of two-gene locus cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) +49 and CD86 +1057 were previously reported to influence the outcome of liver transplantation (LT) with respect to allograft acceptance. SNP at CTLA-4 +49 was also suggested to be associated with the individual difference in the clearance of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, their influence on the incidence of post-LT HBV reinfection was not clear. With the increasing knowledge of costimulatory mechanisms on LT and host immune response, we designed this study to investigate the relationship between different alleles as well as genotypes at these two locations and HBV reinfection after LT. Methods: Genomic DNA from 167 LT recipients with HBV-related diseases was genotyped for CTLA-4 +49 and CD86 +1057 genomic polymorphisms using a sequence-specific primer-polymerase chain reaction (PCR-SSP). HBV recurrence was diagnosed based on the serological and pathological finding of HBV DNA and HBsAg. Results: The present study indicated that the recipients with CTLA-4 +49 GG genotype had a reduced risk (6.67%) of HBV recurrence compared with non-CTLA-4 +49 GG-carrying individuals (20.7%) (relative risk 3.098) (P=0.032). The allelic frequency of CTLA-4 +49 G was also significantly lower in patients with HBV recurrence, compared with that in patients without HBV recurrence (P=0.013, odds ratio 2.176, 95% confidence interval 1.170–4.046). However, no significant association was found between CD86 +1057 and HBV recurrence. Conclusion: Our result on CTLA-4 +49 A/G polymorphism indicated that the CTLA-4 +49 GG genotype was related to a reduced risk in the incidence of HBV recurrence.

A safe and effective preservation solution is a precondition for liver transplantation, which is accepted as the radical treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease. The increasing use of marginal donors and non-heart beating donors as well as the establishment of a national organ allocation network call for better preservation. New preservation solutions like histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK) solution and Celsior solution have been introduced to liver preservation, and protective gene intervention and other modifications have also been investigated. In this article, we review recent advances in liver preservation solutions.An English-language literature search was conducted using MEDLINE (1990-2005) on liver preservation solution, biliary complication, protective gene and other related subjects.Although the high viscosity of the University of Wisconsin (UW) solution proved harmful to the hepatic microcirculation, three solutions showed equivalent preservation effects. When the cold ischemia time was short, there were no significant differences among the three solutions in the incidence of biliary complications. So far, modifications of preservation solutions have achieved great success. Several types of protective genes like A20, Bcl-2, Bcl-X(L) and HO-1 were reported to have definite liver protective effects. The addition of other substrates like TNF-alpha antibody, tacrolimus (FK506) and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) can also improve the preservation effect. However, addition of insulin to UW solution is harmful to the graft.In centers with highly-developed transplantation techniques, HTK and Celsior solutions are acceptable in liver preservation. Protective gene modification and addition of substrates like TNF-alpha antibody, FK506 and FBP are prominent approaches to improve liver preservation.

Petri net is used widely to model and analyze various systems formally. Recently many Petri nets mania devote their efforts to enhancing and extending the expressive power of Petri nets. One such effort is to extend Petri nets with object-oriented concepts. This paper informally introduces Colored Object-Oriented Petri Nets (COOPN) with the application of the AUV system. According to the characteristic of the AUV running environment, this paper uses object-oriented method not only to disport system modules but also to constructs refined running model of AUV system. Then it uses the COOPN method to establish hierarchically detailed model in order to get the performance analyzing information of the system.

The emergence of Web services opens a new way of Web application design and development. It has led to more interest into Web service composition, which is an active area of research. The formidable problem of efficient and effective composition of existing Web services is the subject of much current attention. The study of modeling is one of the most important parts and a key layer of Web service composition. Therefore, there is a need for modeling techniques and tools for reliable Web services composition. In this paper, we propose a method used an Advanced Object-Oriented Petri Net (AOOPN) to model and evaluation the process of Web services composition. This method is expressive enough to capture the semantics of complex Web services combinations.

Many techniques have been proposed to model the information management system. However, they have no formally defined semantics. This paper presents a new modeling technique (MPtr/spl I.bar/nets) based on predication/transition Petri nets to describe component-based information management systems. The MPtr/spl I.bar/nets is made up of predication/transition Petri nets to form a tree. The structure of the nets is layered and MPtr/spl I.bar/nets gradually describes the system from top to bottom. Structural definitions, behavioral rules and graphical representation of the new modeling technique are given. Examples are shown to illustrate the applicability and efficiency of the proposed modeling technique.

The faceted catalogue is one of most popular methods among software component catalogues. However, the traditional faceted catalogue needs experts to establish and maintain glossary. To solve the problem, SOM clustering is applied in software catalogue to automatically form the glossary. By the improved SOM clustering, faceted descript values are clustered and the centers are taken as faceted terms. In SOM algorithms, distances of components are reduced or extended according to component connectors. So the components in this catalogue are not isolated but have relations with each other. And the problem that clustering result is disturbed by the input order, is also solved in the improved SOM clustering.