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Two undescribed shikimic acid derivatives named shikimerans B and C (1 and 2), one new natural compound shikimeran D (3), as well as five known compounds 4−8 were obtained from the EtOAc extract of the endophytic fungus Chaetomium sp. FZ-4. Their structures were determined by the NMR spectroscopy and HRESIMS examination, while the absolute configurations of compounds 1−3 were clarified based on the electronic circular dichroism (ECD) experiment. These new compounds enriched the structural diversity of shikimic acid analogues and also expanded the chemical diversity of the metabolites of Chaetomium sp..

The first Water Integrity Forum in Delft, The Netherlands (June 2013), defined the core of water integrity as ‘the integrity of people and institutions governing water resources, decision making that is fair and inclusive, honest and transparent, accountable and free of corruption’. Historic hydraulic structures are man-made ancestral water systems that helped sedentism and the emergence of cities where the resource is rare or partly available. The scope of the study is to present seven examples of historic hydraulic structures from different geographic contexts, as diverse as South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, as paradigms of indigenous knowledge in water governance. They are traditional gravity-flow water supplying systems whose functioning is based on eco-friendly and sustainable techniques such as the exploitation of surface and runoff water with ensuring minimal water losses, community-based management by already set rules upon common agreements, the preservation of ecological landscapes and the practice of traditional agriculture. This paper highlights those systems and connects their specifications to economic, social, political and environmental dimensions for good water governance and to water integrity key principles, Transparency, Accountability, Participation and Anti-corruption, in a way to explore their potential to do so.

The pseudoguaianelactones A (1) and B (2), two novel sesquiterpene lactones with an unprecedented [5,7,7] ring system featuring an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety, together with a new pseudoguaianelactone C (3) were isolated from the roots of Lindera glauca. Pseudoguaianelactones A-C (1-3) inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production, with IC50 values ranging from 1.38 to 4.00 μM. Moreover, all compounds significantly suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β and PGE2) and the protein expression of the enzymes iNOS and COX-2.

Based on the structure of water culture, which include the four levels of ideas, institutions, social life and physical life, this chapter surveys the dynamic role of water culture in local water management using a case study on the mid-reaches of the Red River in China. This study shows that local water management closely depends on water culture. The local people, based on their ideas, values and knowledge about water use in the local water environment, created an environmentally friendly irrigation and life system. This was also related to their religion, social norms, rules, and social relations and has made water management to be of significant importance. This case study also demonstrated that water culture is indispensable for water management to support the irrigation system. It is, however, closely related to local subsistence since the terraced wet paddy-field is the essential resource of traditional subsistence. Water management and subsistence will not be sustained without water culture. This chapter also discussed the future prospects of water culture in a fast changing society and focuses on how to maintain traditional water culture and build a new culture to meet the current demands of water management.

Since water is comprehensively connected with human society, diversified way of thinking, using, and managing water have developed. This has led to the diversification of water culture worldwide. Water culture was generated from water management, the social demand, and the spiritual feel of water. Consequently, it has also influenced water management comprehensively beginning from the earliest times to the present age. People worldwide rely on their own ideas, values, social relationships, institutions, and religion to manage water. This, however, has made water culture an important dynamic in water management and has also made water management acceptable, effective, equal, and sustainable. Water culture also deeply influences the spiritual world and social life of mankind. Water culture has a structural make up involving the levels of ideas, institutions, social life, and physical factors and is based on the attributes of nationality, civilization, local, and times. This theoretical structure and attributes provide a better understanding of water culture based on scientific and holistic dimension. Meanwhile, a dynamics mechanism was modeled as Double Dynamics and Bidirectional Dynamics to explain the relationship between water and mankind so as to better understand how the cultural generation is driven by water and the cultural initiative in water management. This chapter aims to build the structure and define the types of water culture, to exploring the dynamic mechanism of water culture in water management and human society, and to understand the generation and formation of water culture.

Water culture has played an important dynamic role in water management historically, and it remains highly valuable for water management and water sustainability today. Water management was influenced by water related value, ethics, knowledge, norms, social behavior, institutions, etc. The role of water culture in water management could be played out from the local to the national scale. As well as using traditional water culture, it is valuable to encourage water culture dynamics in the water management process. Water culture can be used in policy making, capacity building, social awareness establishment, behavior fostering, engineering construction, etc. Simultaneously, it needs to stimulate more new water cultural elements to meet the demands of water management. This chapter aims to discuss the cultural dynamic mechanism in water management, practical demonstrations of water culture in current water management and how to foster new water culture for sustainable water management.

The provision of water has been a major enterprise in human history. Groundwater was one of the first sources since the prehistoric times to cover human needs. Initially, the exploitation of groundwater has been made by shallow wells and later by boreholes. A water well is constructed through excavation in the ground by digging, driving, boring, or drilling to access groundwater in aquifers. Groundwater wells were used in the Helladic world since Neolithic times. Ancient China developed a sophisticated tool for drilling water wells that is similar to modern machines. Qanat, a system of wells, originated in Iran (Persia), but was adopted by other countries. Moreover, the Indus valley civilization had well-constructed wells mainly for drinking purposes. The construction of wells varied according to local conditions, determined by geology, hydrogeology, and morphology, as well as by local tradition. Furthermore, a well was not just a water source but also became a cultural symbol throughout history, related to local religion and custom. The stepwells in India became not only sources of drinking water, but also holy places (sanctuaries) for bathing, meditation and prayer. In the present review, the evolution of wells through the centuries is examined. The study of water well technologies demonstrates their diachronic evolution and, furthermore, reveals that the ancient people had an outstanding engineering knowledge of water exploitation, which is interesting for water engineering and hydrogeologists, even nowadays.

China and Greece are the ancient civilizations that took place in the east and west. Subsequently, both civilizations, creatively in the ancient east and west, have deeply influenced the regional civilizations and the world simultaneously. Water management has played a significant role in both civilizations and it has been demonstrated on the evidences that many principles and technologies were generated originally. Also, they were developed by both the ancient Chinese and Greeks through their long histories. As a result, they have significantly influenced the ancient world broadly, of which some of them are still functioning up till this present time. The study constituents the following: methodology, hydrogeology, aqueducts and water impounds, water and wastewater mains, runoff management, agricultural irrigation, as well as the use of water for recreation purposes. Usually, the urban hydro-technologies reflect a progressive situation in water management. Thus, both civilizations have also achieved urban water management as a case study. Therefore, for the purpose of understanding the role of water management in ancient civilizations of which the similarities and differences beyond the large geographic space were generated originally, and which also featured the basic principle of water management in the human societies beyond the civilizations, a comparison of urban hydro-technologies was selectively developed through the long history of ancient Chinese and Greek civilizations.

The aim of this paper is to present the evolution of aqueduct technologies through the millennia, from prehistoric to medieval times. These hydraulic works were used by several civilizations to collect water from springs and to transport it to settlements, sanctuaries and other targets. Several civilizations, in China and the Americas, developed water transport systems independently, and brought these to high levels of sophistication. For the Mediterranean civilizations, one of the salient characteristics of cultural development, since the Minoan Era (ca. 3200-1100 BC), is the architectural and hydraulic function of aqueducts used for the water supply in palaces and other settlements. The Minoan hydrologists and engineers were aware of some of the basic principles of water sciences and the construction and operation of aqueducts. These technologies were further developed by subsequent civilizations. Advanced aqueducts were constructed by the Hellenes and, especially, by the Romans, who dramatically increased the application scale of these structures, in order to provide the extended quantities of water necessary for the Roman lifestyle of frequent bathing. The ancient practices and techniques were not improved but survived through Byzantine and early medieval times. Later, the Ottomans adapted older techniques, reintroducing large-scale aqueducts to supply their emerging towns with adequate water for religious and social needs. The scientific approach to engineering matters during the Renaissance further improved aqueduct technology. Some of these improvements were apparently also implemented in Ottoman waterworks. Finally the industrial revolution established mechanized techniques in water acquisition. Water is a common need of mankind, and several ancient civilizations developed simple but practical techniques from which we can still learn. Their experience and knowledge could still play an important role for sustainable water supply, presently and in future, both in developed and developing countries. © 2013 by the authors., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The potential of using the waste from simultaneous NOx and SO2 purification bio-trickling process to leach copper ore and to make fertilizer was investigated. It was found there were two main exhausted by-products in the purification process: the acidic liquid in desulfurization tower and the alkalescent liquid in denitrogenation tower. Through operation of leaching the oxide ore sample containing 2.58% copper by the acidic liquid, the effective grade of the metal to be extracted reached 28.37% by weight. With adding proportional dose of ammonia into the alkalescent liquid or the acidic liquid and going through evaporation and concentration, crystal products of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate were generated, which can be used in fertilizer manufacturing.

Kunming City is the capital of Yunnan Province, China. From the 12th century, it has developed from a remote rural town to become a large city. Successful water management was one of the key dynamic factors in the city's development. As a result of the location of Kunming City, in its early age it was in a narrow area between the north bank of Dian Chi lake and the mountains, therefore the water management in the history of Kunming City mainly focused on two key projects, one being the Song Hua Ba Dam with the function to control flooding from Pang Long Jiang river, and the other the Hai Kou He river dredging project to control the drainage from Dian Chi lake, therefore shaping a water supply system for the city in the upper basin of the Yangtze River. Pang Long Jiang river is only one large river from the mountains flowing across the city into Dian Chi lake. Therefore the city's development from its early age (11th century) mainly depended on irrigation and flood control of Pan Long Jiang river basin and the basic water system for the city was formed before the 17th century (Ming Dynasty), the most important period of the city's water history.

Metabolism of triazole antifungal agents is highly competitive to conventional post-transplant immunosuppressants like cyclosporine A (CsA) via the cytochrome P450-dependent pathway. We present the first report on lethal complications that may arise due to this type of drug interaction. A retrospective survey identified 10 of 104 cases (9.62%) that suffered life-threatening complications associated with the interaction between CsA and itraconazole or voriconazole following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) at our center. According to the close drug monitoring, all 10 patients experienced supratherapeutic levels of CsA even with a preemptive CsA dosage reduction and prompt dose adjustment. Six patients developed grade I to III acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and eventually died from either idiopathic pneumonia syndrome or diffuse alveolar hemorrhage; another four patients died from CSA-associated neurological complications. Impaired hepatic and renal function was noted in only one of these 10 cases. The high frequency as well as the unpredictability of severe complications lead us to suggest that triazole should always be replaced by another antifungal medication (e.g., amphotericin B or Echincandins) while patients receive CsA after HSCT, especially in the Chinese population.

Single crystalline Mn3O4nanorods with diameters of 10-200 nm and lengths up to several microns have been synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method at a relatively low temperature. The products have been characterized by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. From the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) spectra of the products, hyperfine structure (six absorption peaks of ESR) of Mn2+ion adding the Mn3+ion signal was observed and results confirmed the nanorods showed paramagnetic behaviors.

Water fountains are part of every human settlement, and historical and mythological stories. They are the source from which life-sustaining water was distributed to people until piped systems started providing fresh tap water inside buildings. In many places, people visit fountains to experience the freshness of running water, to prepare for prayers, or to make a wish. Fountains have also provided water for the people of cities under siege, and purified believers as part of holy rites. The Castalia shrine in Delphi, Greece, for its part, is a spot where various groups of people come to socialize, which greatly improves the quality of their lives. This paper is a look back through the history of fountains in various parts of the world. Experts from various areas have identified the historic, cultural, and ritualistic aspects of fountains and their findings are summarized. The paper concludes by providing a glimpse into the role of fountains in modern society and their continued influence in our lives today.

ACL avec facteur d'impact; International audience; Although there is evidence of surface-based storm drainage systems in early Babylonian and Mesopotamian Empires in Iraq (ca. 4000–2500 BC), it is not until after ca. 3000 BC that we find evidence of the well organized and operated sewer and drainage systems of the Minoans and Harappans in Crete and the Indus valley, respectively. The Minoans and Indus valley civilizations originally, and the Hellenes and Romans thereafter, are considered pioneers in developing basic sewerage and drainage technologies, with emphasis on sanitation in the urban environment. The Hellenes and Romans further developed these techniques and greatly increased the scale of these systems. Although other ancient civilizations also contributed, notably some of the Chinese dynasties, very little progress was made during the Dark ages from ca. 300 AD through to the middle of the 18th century. It was only from 1850 onwards that that modern sewerage was “reborn”, but many of the principles grasped by the ancients are still in use today. This paper traces the development of the sewer from those earliest of civilizations through to the present day and beyond. A 6000 year technological history is a powerful validation of the vital contribution of sewers to human history.

CALLG2008 Protocol is sequential chemotherapy for adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) established by Collaborative Group of adults acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It is emphasized that comprehensive treatment of adult ALL according to risk stratification is rather important. This study was purposed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of CALLG2008 for adult ALL. The clinical data of adult ALL patients of ≥ 14 years old diagnosed and treated by CALLG2008 Protocol were collected from May 1, 2009 to December 31, 2011 in Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, and the efficacy was analyzed. The results showed that 31 out of 33 cases of ALL achieved CR, the CR rate was up to 93.9%, the PR rate was 3.1%, and the total response rate was 97%. There were no uncontrolled severe toxicities, and no early deaths were observed. The overall survival (OS) at 1 year was only 66.7%,the relapse rate was 43.8% and the 1-year mortality was 33.3 %. This may be related with no-enough compliance, no-enough economical support and short follow-up time of the patients. The risk factor analysis showed that WBC level in newly diagnosed patients may influence the OS and relapse-free survival (RFS) of ALL. It is concluded that CALLG2008 protocol applied to adult ALL has a high remission quality and low mortality rate during the induction. The disease free survival (DFS) needs to be observed longer. It is essential to carry out MRD monitoring to determine the early recurrence and improving the long-term efficacy.

In the process of software testing, testing effectiveness problem of random testing and partition testing has always been the focus of the debate, in order to help the tester choose the right testing method depended on specific situation, first of all, measurement method based on P - measure and E - measure are given, and discussion analysis has carried on according to different test allocations, the result of the discussion shows that when the testing cases allocations are proportional to the size of software input domains or proportional to the software sub domains failture rate, the ability of partition testing in finding failure is better than random testing. And then, in view of the software reliability testing, measurement method based on reliability is given. Finally, composite the three measurement methods and reach a decision, the ability of partition testing in finding failure is stronger, but random testing can first find failures with large occurrence probability, and so delivered Reliability tends to be more superior.

Aiming at the shortcomings of current software injection for satellite, method that module dynamic loading is applied to satellite software is put forward. By analyzing the principle of module dynamic loading in VxWorks, three questions are obtained which should be resolved to achieve the module dynamic loading, two questions which are object file dynamic loading and injection are resolved emphatically. Pseudo memory disk is used to replace the real file system to answer the question of object file dynamic loading, which reduces the requirement of system hardware resources. Aiming at dynamic loading demand, reasonable communication protocol is designed to ensure the object file to be injected correctly. Experiments show that module dynamic loading can meet the requirements of injection for satellite software.

To explore the outcome of remission induction chemotherapy (IC) and prognostic in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).The clinical data of 156 AML patients older than 60 years in the Institute of Hematology, Union Hospital of Fujian Medical University from January 2003 to July 2010 were analyzed retrospectively. 104 patients received cytarabine-based regimens, including protocol DA,IA or CAG,while 52 patients received palliative treatment. The median survival time was compared between patients with and without IC. The prognostic factors were evaluated by using univariate and multivariate analyses.145 (93%) cases were followed-up. The median survival time was 316 days in 96 IC patients, compared with 37 days in 49 PT patients (P0.01). Not receiving induction chemotherapy,high-risk karyotype,hyperleukocytosis (or = 100 x 10(9)/L), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI)or = 2 were adverse prognostic factors of the survival time with univariate analysis, and all were independent poor factors affecting the survival time with multivariate analysis.IC can improve outcomes in elderly AML patients. The patients with hyperleukocytosis (or = 100 x 10(9)/L) , high-risk karyotype, CCIor = 2 and without receiving IC have poorer prognosis.

Contractor safety is the key to success for construction projects, the contractor safety goals and performance evaluation system has become the important task of safety management of current building construction. This paper based on experts linguistic assessment and multi-granularity language fusion method of qualitative indexes to evaluate and rational quantification, through the C2R DEA model and "projection" method of contractor safety performance objective and reasonable evaluation and analyzes the causes of the ineffective DMU to improve its safety performance. With a project of four contractors for case study, explain that the method is feasible and effective.

To investigate the value of quantitative tissue velocity imaging (QTVI) echocardiography in the evaluation of cardiac function and the diagnosis of left heart failure.30 heart failure (HF) patients, aged 66 +/- 12 (39 - 86), and 32 normal controls, 66 +/- 12 (40 - 82) underwent conventional echocardiography, and QTVI. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was calculated by Simpson's formula. Mitral annulus peak systolic velocity (Vs) and systolic displacement (Ds) from posteroseptal, lateral, anteroseptal, posterior, anterior, and inferior segments were determined by QTVI, and the mean Vs and Ds were calculated. The values of mean Vs and Ds of the HF patients and those of the normal controls, and the values of mean Vs and Ds of the HF patients before and after treatment were compared. The correlation of the mean Vs and Ds with LVEF was analyzed.The mean Vs of the HF patients was 2.8 cm/s +/- 0.6 cm/s, significantly lower than that of the normal controls (6.4 cm/s +/- 0.9 cm/s, P0.01). The mean Vs of the HF patients after treatment was 3.5 cm/s +/- 1.1 cm/s, significantly higher than that before treatment (2.8 cm/s +/- 0.6 cm/s, P0.01). The mean Ds of the HF patients was 5.2 mm +/- 1.5 mm, significantly lower than that of the normal controls (11.6 mm +/- 1.5 mm, P0.01). The mean Ds of the HF patients after treatment was 6.5 mm +/- 2.0 mm, significantly higher than that before treatment (5.2 mm +/- 1.5 mm, P0.01). The mean Vs and mean Ds were positively correlated with LVEF (r = 0.87, P0.01, and r = 0.89, P0.01). The area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operator characteristic (ROC) was 0.95 for the mean Vs to diagnose HF. The mean Vsor = 4.42 cm/s was used as a cut-off point to diagnosis left HF with a sensitivity of 97.5% a specificity of 90.2%, and an accuracy rating of 95.1%. The AUC of ROC was 0.96 for the mean Ds to diagnose HF. The mean Dsor = 8.49 mm was used as a cut-off point to diagnose left HF with a sensitivity of 97.5%, a specificity of 87.8%, and an accuracy rating was 95.1%.The mean systolic velocity and mean systolic displacement of mitral annulus determined by QTVI help evaluate the left ventricular systolic function. The value of the diagnosis is significant in left HF.

To prepare and characterize the monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) against recombinant adhesion protein 33 (AP33) of Trichomonas vaginalis.The purified recombinant fusion protein AP33 was used as antigen to immunize BALB/c mice. Sp2/0 myeloma cells were fused with the splenocytes from immunized BALB/c mice. After ELISA screening and 4 times of limited dilution, 5 positive hybridoma cell lines were obtained, and the biological properties of the McAbs were identified by Western blotting. Indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) was performed and the inhibition effect of McAbs on the cytoadherence of Trichomonas vaginalis to HeLa cell was assayed.Western blotting demonstrated that 5 McAbs, designated as 4A2, 4F11, 4F8, 4E7 and 4H11, specifically combined with the recombinant AP33 of T. vaginalis. The McAbs were IgG1 isotypes. Four of them (4F11, 4F8, 4E7 and 4H11) showed parasite recognition by IFAT. Parasite cytoadherence to a monolayer of HeLa cells was inhibited in vitro with a inhibition rate of 50.08%, 65.03%, 50.70% and 49.08% by the 4 McAbs under a concentration of 200, 200, 400 and 200 microg/ml, respectively.The prepared McAbs against the recombinant AP33 show a protective inhibition on cytoadherence of Trichomonas vaginalis in vitro.

We investigated several factors, such as temperature, current intensity ( i ), time ( t ) and the product (mA min mm −2 , viz., C mm −2 ) of i and t , etc., that obviously affect the moving neutralization reaction boundary method (MNRBM). The results manifest that the temperature and the product ti have a strong influence on the movement rate of the boundary. The data prove that about 0.6 C mm −2 (being equivalent to 10 mA min mm −2 ) is a critical point. If the product ti is lower than the critical point, a good quantitative agreement exists between the observed and theoretical values, but if it is higher than the critical point, the agreements are poor. The optimized experimental conditions are: (1) 18–20 °C room temperature, (2) 0.6–0.8 mA mm −2 , (3) less than 10 mA min mm −2 , (4) 1% agarose gel, (5) daily prepared solution and gel containing NaOH. The optimized MNRBM is of benefit for the studies on MNRB itself, isoelectric focusing and capillary zone electrophoresis as will be partially shown in this paper.

Background Conflicting reports on the efficacy of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) incited us to evaluate the utility of IABP in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods Randomized clinical trials comparing patients, who received IABP vs. control (no IABP) during PCI, were hand-searched from MEDLINE, Cochrane, and EMBASE databases using the terms “intra-aortic balloon pump, percutaneous coronary intervention, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome”. Mortality rate (30-day and 6-month mortality) was the primary outcome, while the secondary outcomes included 30-day bleeding rate, reinfarction rate, revascularization rate and stroke rate. Results Pooled results of the seven trials identified indicated that the 30-day and 6-month mortality rate were not significantly different between the IABP and control groups. However, in patients with MI, but without cardiogenic shock (CS), IABP was associated with lower odds of 30-day mortality (OR = 0.35, p = 0.015) and 6-month mortality (OR = 0.41, p = 0.020). The pooled results of 30-day bleeding rate was not significantly higher in patients with IABP than the control group, but for the patients with high risk PCI without CS, it was higher in patients with IABP than the control group (OR = 1.58, p = 0.009). The re-infarction, revascularization, and the stroke rate at 30 days of follow-up were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions The present results do not favor the clinical utility of IABP in patients suffering high-risk PCI without CS and AMI complicated with CS. However, in patients with AMI, but without CS, IABP may reduce the 30-day and 6-month mortality rate.