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To examine the potential protective impact and underlying mechanism of nerve growth factor on brain tissue in hyperbilirubinemia rats through the downregulation of Fas/Fas ligand expression. Thirty six healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were selected as normal control group, and 0.5 ml saline was injected intraperitoneally. The remaining 24 rats were injected intraperitoneally with 50 μg/g bilirubin to establish the model of hyperbilirubinemia. After the model was established successfully, they were divided into hyperbilirubinemia group and nerve growth factor intervention group. The rats in the nerve growth factor intervention group were intraperitoneally injected with 50 μg/kg/d nerve growth factor once a day for 3 d. Rats in each group were killed and their brain tissues were taken to wait for detection. The changes of pathological morphology and the Fas and Fas ligand were compared between the normal control group at 72 h and the hyperbilirubinemia group at 6 h, 24 h, 72 h and the nerve growth factor intervention group. In hyperbilirubinemia group and nerve growth factor intervention group, the brain tissue of rats had different degrees of neurocyto edema. After 6 h, the brain tissue of both groups had degeneration. After 24 h, the neuron necrosis was obvious. After 72 h, the brain tissue of both groups had glial cell proliferation, nuclear pyknosis and fragmentation. However, the severity of brain tissue in nerve growth factor intervention group was less than that in hyperbilirubinemia group, while that in normal control group was not obvious change. At 6 h, 24 h and 72 h, the Fas in the hyperbilirubinemia group was raised than that of the normal control group; while this in the nerve growth factor intervention group was reduced than that of hyperbilirubinemia. At 6 h, 24 h and 72 h, the Fas ligand in hyperbilirubinemia group was raised than that of normal control group; and it in nerve growth factor intervention group was reduced than that of hyperbilirubinemia group. The expression of Fas/Fas ligand can be downregulated by nerve growth factor, thereby providing protection to the brain tissue of rats with hyperbilirubinemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although studies on the safety and efficacy of endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) and ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) have been conducted, the safety and efficacy for treating postinfective hydrocephalus (PIH) in pediatric patients have not been investigated using meta-analysis and thus remain controversial. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the safety and efficacy of ETV and VPS for PIH treatment and determine whether ETV is more appropriate than VPS for treating PIH in PP. Methods: We searched Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library databases up to January 2022. The quality of studies was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing the risk of bias in randomized trials. A fixed-effect model was used for pooling analysis, and heterogeneity was assessed using I². Results: Three randomized controlled trials involving 200 patients out of a total 254 identified studies were included. No significant differences were found between ETV and VPS in postoperative success rate (risk ratio RR: 0.89; 95% confidence interval CI: 0.72-1.10; p = 0.27), postoperative infection rate (RR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.21-2.22; p = 0.52), postoperative blockage rate (RR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.40-2.00; p = 0.80), complication rates (RR: 1.29; 95% CI: 0.45-3.71; p = 0.63), or mortality (RR: 1.31; 95% CI: 0.47-3.65; p = 0.60). However, patients who underwent VPS showed lower postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage than those who underwent ETV (RR: 9.00; 95% CI: 1.18-68.45; p = 0.03). Conclusions: VPS may be more beneficial for the treatment of PIH in pediatric patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of interstitial carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (C/N/O) on the helium behavior in nickel are studied by using first-principles calculations. The interstitial C/N/O changes the occupying priority of helium to the first nearest neighbor Oct-site, which is related to local strain effect and chemical bonding between helium and its adjacent atoms. Both binding energy calculation and diffusion property analysis confirm that the interstitial C/N/O can trap helium in nickel. Moreover, with lower binding energy and larger trapping radii to helium, the interstitial oxygen has significant effect on helium trapping compared with that of nitrogen and carbon. With more helium aggregating at vacancy, the C/N/O would also trap smaller helium clusters and repel larger ones, indicating that the interstitial C/N/O could disperse helium bubbles and further inhibit their growth in nickel. This work helps to understand the helium embrittlement resistant mechanisms of the initial nucleation sites for second phase nanoparticles in nickel-based alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common to encounter large-scale monotone inclusion problems where the objective has a finite sum structure. We develop a general framework for variance-reduced forwardbackward splitting algorithms for this problem. This framework includes a number of existing deterministic and variance-reduced algorithms for function minimization as special cases, and it is also applicable to more general problems such as saddle-point problems and variational inequalities. With a carefully constructed Lyapunov function, we show that the algorithms covered by our framework enjoy a linear convergence rate in expectation under mild assumptions. We further consider Catalyst acceleration and asynchronous implementation to reduce the algorithmic complexity and computation time. We apply our proposed framework to a policy evaluation problem and a strongly monotone two player game, both of which fall outside the realm of function minimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The net output power and current density distribution uniformity of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are particularly important evaluation criteria in the flow field design. In recent years, the flow field with baffles has become research hotspots, and the trapezoid baffled flow field has been proved to increase the performance of fuel cells. However, most of the research studies only stay at the level of single flow channel simulation and little experimental data on the flow field of the entire bipolar plate. In this study, the performance, pressure drop, and current density distribution of PEM fuel cells with different baffled flow field plates are tested experimentally. The results indicate that adding baffles in the conventional parallel flow field can significantly improve the output performance and current density distribution uniformity of the fuel cell, and the improvement effect is better with the increase in baffle height. However, increasing the baffle height will inevitably raise the pressure drop of the flow field. To solve this problem, the flow field with a half baffle arrangement is innovatively designed. The proposed half-baffled flow field can keep the uniformity of current density distribution and reduce the pressure drop at the same time. This method provides a new inspiration for the design of the flow field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: In this paper, a novel device identification method is proposed to improve the security of Visible Light Communication (VLC) in 5G networks. This method extracts the fingerprints of Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) to identify the devices accessing the 5G network. The extraction and identification mechanisms have been investigated from the theoretical perspective as well as verified experimentally. Moreover, a demonstration in a practical indoor VLC-based 5G network has been carried out to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of this approach. The fingerprints of four identical white LEDs were extracted successfully from the received 5G NR (New Radio) signals. To perform identification, four types of machine-learning-based classifiers were employed and the resulting accuracy was up to 97.1% [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some studies on developed economies have revealed that the impacts of oil price shocks have decreased while conclusions about China remain occluded. We investigate the changing effects of oil price shocks on China's macroeconomy and discuss the causes. A time-varying parameter vector autoregressive (VAR) model reveals that impacts of oil price shocks on China's economy have shown a downward trend since 1997. The responses of the real output are much greater and last longer than those of inflation. Then a new Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model is developed to synthetically explore the causes. The results indicate that decreasing oil intensity and monopoly power reduce the effects of oil price shocks, while increasing capital intensity in production amplifies them. Other factors-such as changing price stickiness, deregulation of refined oil prices, and shifts in monetary policy targets-have limited effects on the relationship between oil price shocks and China's macroeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airway epithelial cells (AECs) play a key role in asthma susceptibility and severity. Integrin β4 (ITGB4) is a structural adhesion molecule that is down-regulated in the airway epithelium of asthma patients. Although a few studies hint toward the role of ITGB4 in asthmatic inflammation pathogenesis, their specific resultant effects remain unexplored. In the present study, we determined the role of ITGB4 of AECs in the regulation of Th2 response and identified the underpinning molecular mechanisms. We found that ITGB4 deficiency led to exaggerated lung inflammation and AHR with higher production of CCL17 in house dust mite (HDM)-treated mice. ITGB4 regulated CCL17 production in AECs through EGFR, ERK and NF-κB pathways. EFGR-antagonist treatment or the neutralization of CCL17 both inhibited exaggerated pathological marks in HDM-challenged ITGB4-deficient mice. Together, these results demonstrated the involvement of ITGB4 deficiency in the development of Th2 responses of allergic asthma by down-regulation of EGFR and CCL17 pathway in AECs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of left posterior fascicular ventricular tachycardia is macro-reentry involving the ventricular myocardium. The reentrant loop comprises of a part of the left posterior fascicle, a P1 fiber, a slow conduction zone connecting the ventricular myocardium and proximal P1. In the LPF-VT patients with a recorded P1, the optimal ablation target should be slightly proximal to the connection point between P1 and P2, and the endpoint of ablation is the appearance of P1 during sinus rhythm. In the cases without a recorded P1, the ablation target should be located carefully to the earliest portion of P2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Przewalskin A, a novel C23 terpenoid with anti-HIV-1 activity from Salvia przewalskii Maxim, was formed in 10 steps via isorosmanol from (+)-carnosic acid. The synthetic strategy was inspired primarily by the biogenetic hypothesis and was enabled by epoxidation, epoxide ring opening, and lactonization in one pot to prepare the 11,12-dimethoxy isorosmanol, and bismuthonium ylide-induced ring expansion of o-quinone to construct the 2-acyl-3-hydroxytropone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a jitter-sensitive-sequence-detection scheme based on a realistic transition noise model for high-density perpendicular magnetic recording channels. In this scheme, the transition jitter is assumed to have one of the Q discrete values, and the discretized jitter sequence is estimated jointly with the recorded bit sequence using maximum a posteriori criterion. The detection performance is compared with that of the pattern dependent noise predictive scheme based on an autoregressive Gaussian noise model. Simulation results show that the scheme provides a significant gain when the transition jitter is large and the resulting transition noise dominates over the electronic noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of crashes occurring on motorway exit slip roads is approximately double that occurring on entrance slip roads. A crash on an exit slip road usually causes a decrease in its capacity, leading to queues forming on the main carriageway. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the safety factors for exit slip roads on urban motorways in China. Seventy exit slip roads on motorways in Shanghai were selected for statistical and regression analyses. Negative binomial models were established to identify the influencing factors. The regression results indicate that the slope of the exit slip road, the length of deceleration lane, the length from the slip road terminal to stop line, the exit slip road type and the average annual daily traffic are significant factors with respect to the safety performance of exit slip roads. Compared with previous studies, urban motorway exit slip roads in China have complex and specific influencing factors. With the exception of the geometric design of exit slip roads, the slip road-street intersection serves an important role in slip road safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although face milling (FM) is a popular industrial cutting method for mass-producing bevel gears, current machines require many cutters with diverse profile angles to produce different gear types. In this paper, therefore, a flexible cutting method is proposed that eliminated the need of too many cutters for producing the gears with similar size and module by employing cutters with standard profile angle blades on a general five-axis machine. The settings for this machine are derived by mathematically modeling a virtual machine, after which the motion functions of the five-axis coordinates are determined through inverse kinematics. A sensitivity analysis is then performed to bring the tooth surface produced closer to its theoretical counterpart. The results of a cutting simulation confirm the correctness of this proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies finding that small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth is associated with increased adiposity in childhood and adulthood have been based on analyses "adjusting" for height, weight, or body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)²) measured concurrently with the adiposity measurement. To assess the potential for bias due to overadjustment for a causal mediator, we compared 2 approaches to analyzing the association between SGA birth and adiposity outcomes (skinfold thicknesses and bioelectrical impedance measurement of body fat) at age 11.5 years using the same data set in a cohort of Belarusian children followed from birth in 1996-1997 to age 11.5 years in 2008-2010. We 1) studied the association of SGA birth with adiposity, adjusting for baseline covariates only, and 2) made additional regression adjustment for concurrent height, weight, or BMI. The first approach yielded negative associations between SGA birth and all adiposity outcomes. Additional adjustment for concurrent weight or BMI reversed (i.e., to positive) the SGA-adiposity association. To explore the latter anthropometric measures as causal mediators, we also used marginal structural models to estimate the controlled direct effect of SGA birth. That effect was similar to the effect seen with the first approach when modeled on height, was null when modeled on BMI, but was confounded by differences in lean mass versus fat mass when modeled on weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive radio (CR) has become a tempting technology that achieves significant improvement in spectrum utilization. To resolve the hidden terminal problem, collaborative spectrum sensing (CSS), which profits from spatial diversity, has been studied intensively in recent years. As CSS is vulnerable to the attacks launched by malicious secondary users (SUs), certain CSS security schemes based on the Dempster--Shafer theory of evidence have been proposed. Nevertheless, the available works only focus on the real-time difference of SUs, like the difference in similarity degree or SNR, to evaluate the credibility of each SU. Since the real-time difference is unilateral and sometimes inexact, the statistical information comprised in SUs' historical behaviors should not be ignored. In this paper, we propose a robust CSS method based on evidence theory and credibility calculation. It is executed in four consecutive procedures, which are basic probability assignment (BPA), holistic credibility calculation, option and amelioration of BPA and evidence combination via the Dempster--Shafer rule, respectively. Our scheme evaluates the holistic credibility of SUs from both the real-time difference and statistical sensing behavior of SUs. Moreover, considering that the transmitted data increase with the number of SUs increasing, we introduce the projection approximation approach to adjust the evidence theory to the binary hypothesis test in CSS; on this account, both the data volume to be transmitted and the workload at the data fusion center have been reduced. Malicious SUs can be distinguished from genuine ones based on their historical sensing behaviors, and SUs' real-time difference can be reserved to acquire a superior current performance. Abounding simulation results have proven that the proposed method outperforms the existing ones under the effect of different attack modes and different numbers of malicious SUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equol is an end metabolite of daidzein produced by the intestinal microbiota, exhibiting stronger antioxidant and estrogenic activities. It has been proposed that the beneficial effects of soybean/phytoestrogens may be dependent on the intestinal equol-producing ability, i.e. the equol hypothesis. The 'equol hypothesis' has been well applied to human clinical studies. However, the information of equol-producing ability in sows is quite limited. In this study, the individual differences and correlation between equol excretion and intestinal microbiota in large white sows were assayed. The results showed faecal equol levels of 0.14-17.85 µg/g (coefficient of variation: 61.22%) and urinary equol levels of 0.53-8.19 µg/mL (coefficient of variation: 54.72%). The levels of equol and daidzein correlated positively in both urine and faeces (P < 0.05). The levels of daidzein and ratio of equol : daidzein in both faeces and urine were significantly higher than equol status (P < 0.01). Cluster analysis of denatured gradient gel electrophoresis patterns showed that faecal samples with similar equol concentrations had similar microbial composition. The Shannon diversity and bands number in gel was significant negatively correlative with faecal equol status (P < 0.001). The population of total bacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes correlated negatively with faecal equol production (P < 0.05). Positive correlations were found between urinary equol production and the population of bacteroidetes and methanogen-producing bacteria (P < 0.05), demonstrating for the first time the relationship between equol excretions and gut interspecies H2 transfer in sows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionic liquids (ILs) as designer solvents have been applied in biomass pretreatment to increase cellulose accessibility and therefore improve the enzymatic hydrolysis. We investigated the characterization of the micromorphology and the topochemistry of poplar wood during 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate pretreatment with mild conditions (90 °C for 20 and 40 min) by multiple microscopic techniques (FE-SEM, CLSM, and CRM). Chemical composition analysis, XRD, cellulase adsorption isotherm, and enzymatic hydrolysis were also performed to monitor the variation of substrate properties. Our results indicated that the biomass conversion was greatly enhanced (from 20.57% to 73.64%) due to the cell wall deconstruction and lignin dissolution (29.83% lignin was removed after incubation for 40 min), rather than the decrystallization or crystallinity transformation of substrates. The mild ILs pretreatment, with less energy input, can not only enhance enzymatic hydrolysis, but also provide a potential approach as the first step in improving the sequential pretreatment effectiveness in integrated methods. This study provides new insights on understanding the ILs pretreatment with low temperature and short duration, which is critical for developing individual and/or combined pretreatment technologies with reduced energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies of early life influences on later growth in childhood have varied in their analytical approaches, particularly with respect to 'adjustment' for differences in size at the beginning of the growth period examined.Methods: We compared three commonly used statistical models to assess the effect of maternal body mass index (BMI) on growth between 6.5 and 11.5 years in a large cohort of Belarusian children, as follows: (Model 1) analysis of the difference in anthropometric measurements between the two ages; (Model 2) analysis of the measurement at 11.5 years after adjustment for the same measurement at 6.5 years; and (Model 3) analysis of the difference in measurements after adjustment for the measurement at 6.5 years (mathematically identical to Model 2).Results: Among PROBIT children of obese mothers (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ) vs those of mothers with normal BMI (18.5 to < 25 kg/m 2 ), Model 1 yielded larger increases in most weight and adiposity outcomes than did Model 2. We show that these larger effects arise because Model 2 parameterizes the effect of maternal BMI twice in same model: once for its effect on size at 6.5 years, and a second time for its effect on growth over the 5-year period between 6.5 and 11.5 years. Similar results were obtained in analogous analyses from cohorts in Boston, MA, and Singapore.Conclusion: Analysing the effect of exposure on change in outcome between two ages (Model 1) is clearly preferable to 'adjustment' for the outcome at the earlier age whenever the exposure under study affects the outcome at the earlier age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative spectrumsensing (CSS)was envisioned to improve the reliability of spectrum sensing in centralized cognitive radio networks (CRNs). However, secondary users (SUs)' changeable environment and ease of compromise make CSS vulnerable to security threats, which further mislead the global decision making and degrade the overall performance. A popular attack in CSS is the called spectrum sensing data falsification (SSDF) attack. In the SSDF attack, malicious cognitive users (MUs) send false sensing results to the fusion center, which significantly degrades detection accuracy. In this paper, a comprehensive reputation-based security mechanism against dynamic SSDF attack for CRNs is proposed. In the mechanism, the reliability of SUs in collaborative sensing is measured with comprehensive reputation values in accordance with the SUs' current and historical sensing behaviors. Meanwhile a punishment strategy is presented to revise the reputation, in which a reward factor and a penalty factor are introduced to encourage SUs to engage in positive and honest sensing activities. The whole mechanism focuses on ensuring the correctness of the global decision continuously. Specifically, the proposed security scheme can effectively alleviate the effect of users' malicious behaviors on network decision making, which contributes greatly to enhancing the fairness and robustness of CRNs. Considering that the attack strategy adopted by MUs has been gradually transforming from simplicity, fixedness and singleness into complexity, dynamic and crypticity, we introduce two dynamic behavior patterns (true to false and then to true (TFT) and false to true and then to false (FTF)) to further validate the effectiveness of our proposed defense mechanism. Abundant simulation results verify the rationality and validity of our proposed mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional detectors for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks always become disabled when noise uncertainty is severe. Shannon entropy-based detection methods have aroused widespread attention in recent years due to the characteristics of effective anti-noise uncertainty. However, in existing entropy-based sensing schemes, the uniform quantization method cannot guarantee the maximum entropy distribution when primary users do not exist, and cannot effectively distinguish between two hypotheses, which severely limits the promotion of detection performance. Moreover, the Shannon entropy-based sensing schemes are prone to misconvergence occurring when estimating entropy values, thus causing failure detection, which leads to system detection inefficiency and resource waste. These are the two major serious defects in Shannon entropy-based detectors, which restrict the performance improvement. In this paper, a novel non-uniform quantized exponential entropy-based (NQEE) detector is proposed for local sensing to deal with the problems of maximum entropy distribution and detection failure. To further improve the reliability of the detection, a collaborative spectrum sensing algorithm based on an NQEE detector with multiple fusion rules is presented. Simulation results verify that the detection performance of the improved local entropy-based detector is superior to the existing Shannon entropy-based detectors and is proved to be robust to noise power uncertainty. In addition, the novel collaborative detection algorithm outperforms the traditional collaborative spectrum detection method to a great degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Derivations under different grammar formalisms allow extraction of various dependency structures. Particularly, bilexical deep dependency structures beyond surface tree representation can be derived from linguistic analysis grounded by CCG, LFG, and HPSG. Traditionally, these dependency structures are obtained as a by-product of grammar-guided parsers. In this article, we study the alternative data-driven, transition-based approach, which has achieved great success for tree parsing, to build general dependency graphs. We integrate existing tree parsing techniques and present two new transition systems that can generate arbitrary directed graphs in an incremental manner. Statistical parsers that are competitive in both accuracy and efficiency can be built upon these transition systems. Furthermore, the heterogeneous design of transition systems yields diversity of the corresponding parsing models and thus greatly benefits parser ensemble. Concerning the disambiguation problem, we introduce two new techniques, namely, transition combination and tree approximation, to improve parsing quality. Transition combination makes every action performed by a parser significantly change configurations. Therefore, more distinct features can be extracted for statistical disambiguation. With the same goal of extracting informative features, tree approximation induces tree backbones from dependency graphs and re-uses tree parsing techniques to produce tree-related features. We conduct experiments on CCG-grounded functor-argument analysis, LFG-grounded grammatical relation analysis, and HPSG-grounded semantic dependency analysis for English and Chinese. Experiments demonstrate that data-driven models with appropriate transition systems can produce high-quality deep dependency analysis, comparable to more complex grammar-driven models. Experiments also indicate the effectiveness of the heterogeneous design of transition systems for parser ensemble, transition combination, as well as tree approximation for statistical disambiguation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibration monitoring signals are widely used for damage alarming among the structural health monitoring system. However, these signals are easily corrupted by the environmental noise in the collecting that hampers the accuracy and reliability of measured results. In this paper, a modified artificial bee colony (MABC) algorithm-based wavelet thresholding method has been proposed for noise reduction in the real measured vibration signals. Kent chaotic map and general opposition-based learning strategies are firstly adopted to initialize the colony. Tournament selection mechanism is then employed to choose the food source. Finally, the Kent chaotic search is applied to exploit the global optimum solution according to the current optimal value. Moreover, a generalized cross validation (GCV) based fitness function is constructed without requiring foreknowledge of the noise-free signals. A physical model experiment for a high-piled wharf structure is implemented to verify the feasibility of the proposed signal denoising approach. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, basic artificial bee colony (BABC) algorithm and Logistic chaos artificial bee colony (LABC) algorithm and are also taken as contrast tests. Comparison results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the other algorithms in terms of convergence speed and precision, and can effectively reduce the noise from the measured vibration signals of the high-piled wharf structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16), a major etiopathologic cause of pediatric hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) worldwide, has been reported to have caused several fatalities. Revealing the evolutionary and epidemiologic dynamics of CV-A16 across time and space is central to understanding its outbreak potential. Methods: In this study, we isolated six CV-A16 strains in China's Jilin province and construct a maximum clade credibility (MCC) tree for CV-A16 VP1 gene by the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method using 708 strains from GenBank with epidemiological information. The evolution characteristics of CV-A16 VP1 gene was also analysed dynamicly through Bayesian skyline plot. Results: All CV-A16 strains identified could be classified into five major genogroups, denoted by GI-GV. GIV and GV have co-circulated in China since 2007, and the CV-A16 epidemic strain isolated in the Jilin province, China, can be classified as GIV-3. The CV-A16 genogroups circulating recently in China have the same ancestor since 2007. The genetic diversity of the CV-A16 VP1 gene shows a continuous increase since the mid-1990s, with sharp increases in genetic diversity in 1997 and 2007 and reached peak in 2007. Very low genetic diversity existed after 2010. The CV-A16 VP1 gene evolutionary rate was 6.656E-3 substitutions per site per year. Conclusions: We predicted the dynamic phylogenetic trends, which indicate outbreak trends of CV-A16, and provide theoretical foundations for clinical prevention and treatment of HFMD which caused by a CV-A16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to locate source signal more accurately in authorized frequency bands, a novel primary user localization algorithm based on compressive sensing (PU-CSL) in cognitive radio networks (CRNs) is proposed in this paper. In comparison to existing centroid locating algorithms, PU-CSL shows higher locating accuracy for integrally exploring correlation between source signal and secondary users (SUs). Energy detection is first adopted for collecting the energy fingerprint of source signal at each SU, then degree of correlation between source signal and SUs is reconstructed based on compressive sensing (CS), which determines weights of centroid coordinates. A weighted centroid scheme is finally utilized to estimate source position. Simulation results show that PU-CSL has smaller maximum error of positioning and root-mean-square error. Moreover, the proposed PU-CSL algorithm possess excellent location accuracy and strong anti-noise performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new complexes based on 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (1,4-H2NDC) and four bis-pyridyl-bis-amide ligands with various spacers (3-bpye = N,N'-bis(3-pyridinecarboxamide)-1,2-ethane; 3-bpfp = bis(3-pyridylformyl)piperazine; 3-bpcd = N,N'-bis(pyridin-3-yl)cyclohexane-1,4-dicarboxamide; and 3-bpcb = N,N'-bis(3-pyridinecarboxamide)-1,4-benzene), namely [Cu2(1,4-NDC)2(3-bpye)(H2O)] (1), [Cu(1,4-NDC)(3-bpfp)0.5(2), [Cu3(1,4-NDC)3(3-bpcd)3·2H2O (3), and [Cu(1,4-NDC)(3-bpcb) (4), have been hydrothermally synthesized. Complex 1 is a 3D coordination network and represents an 8-connected {420.68} topology. Complex 2 shows a 2-fold interpenetrating 3D architecture with a 6-connected {412.63} topology. Complexes 3 and 4 possess similar 2D sql layers with the {44.62} topology, but the coordination modes of 1,4-NDC ligands and the conformations of the two bis-pyridyl-bis-amide ligands are different. The adjacent layers for 3 and 4 are further linked by hydrogen bonding interactions to form 3D supramolecular networks. The successful assemblies of complexes 1-4 imply that by using the different bis-pyridyl-bis-amide ligands with diverse spacers can produce diverse metal-organic networks. Furthermore, the fluorescence and photocatalytic properties of complexes 1-4 have been investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we design and test a novel solar tracking generation system. Moreover, we show that this system could be successfully used as an advanced solar power source to generate power in greenhouses. The system was developed after taking into consideration the geography, climate, and other environmental factors of northeast China. The experimental design of this study included the following steps: (i) the novel solar tracking generation system was measured, and its performance was analyzed; (ii) the system configuration and operation principles were evaluated; (iii) the performance of this power generation system and the solar irradiance were measured according to local time and conditions; (iv) the main factors affecting system performance were analyzed; and (v) the amount of power generated by the solar tracking system was compared with the power generated by fixed solar panels. The experimental results indicated that compared to the power generated by fixed solar panels, the solar tracking system generated about 20% to 25% more power. In addition, the performance of this novel power generating system was found to be closely associated with solar irradiance. Therefore, the solar tracking system provides a new approach to power generation in greenhouses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The natural recalcitrance of lignocellulosic plant cell walls resulting from complex arrangement and distribution of heterogeneous components impedes deconstruction of such cell walls. Dilute acid pretreatment (DAP) is an attractive method to overcome the recalcitrant barriers for rendering enzymatic conversion of polysaccharides. In this study, the internodes of Miscanthus × giganteus, a model bioenergy crop, were subjected to DAP to yield a range of samples with altered cell wall structure and chemistry. The consequent morphological and compositional changes and their possible impact on saccharification efficiency were comprehensively investigated. The use of a series of microscopic and microspectroscopic techniques including fluorescence microscopy (FM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and confocal Raman microscopy (CRM)) enabled correlative cell wall structural and chemical information to be obtained. Results: DAP of M. × giganteus resulted in solubilization of arabinoxylan and cross-linking hydroxycinnamic acids in a temperature-dependent manner. The optimized pretreatment (1% H2SO4, 170°C for 30 min) resulted in significant enhancement in the saccharification efficiency (51.20%) of treated samples in 72 h, which amounted to 4.4- fold increase in sugar yield over untreated samples (11.80%). The remarkable improvement could be correlated to a sequence of changes occurring in plant cell walls due to their pretreatment-induced deconstruction, namely, loss in the matrix between neighboring cell walls, selective removal of hemicelluloses, redistribution of phenolic polymers and increased exposure of cellulose. The consequently occurred changes in inner cell wall structure including damaging, increase of porosity and loss of mechanical resistance were also found to enhance enzyme access to cellulose and further sugar yield. Conclusions: DAP is a highly effective process for improving bioconversion of cellulose to glucose by breaking down the rigidity and resistance of cell walls. The combination of the most relevant microscopic and microanalytical techniques employed in this work provided information crucial for evaluating the influence of anatomical and compositional changes on enhanced enzymatic digestibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructures are not only attractivefor fundamental research but also offer great promise for bottom-upnanofabrications. In the past, the growth of one-dimensional vertical/planarnanomaterials such as nanowires has made significant progresses. However,works on two-dimensional nanomaterials are still lacking, especiallyfor those grown out of a substrate. We report here a vertical growthof topological insulator, Bi2Se3and Bi2Te3, nanoplates on mica. In stark contrast to thegeneral belief, these nanoplates are not prisms exposing (100) lateralsurfaces, which are expected to minimize the surface area. Instead,they are frustums, enclosed by (01-4), (015), and (001) facets. First-principlescalculations, combined with experiments, suggest the importance ofsurface oxidation in forming these unexpected surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Apolygus lucorum (Meyer-Dür.) and Erythroneura apicalis (Nawa) are important pests that affect the quality and the yield of grapevine and cause huge economic losses. This paper focuses on the selection of effective botanical pesticides to control A. lucorum and E. apicalis. This experiment explores the effect of several botanical pesticides for A. lucorum and E. apicalis, including the 0.5% veratrine, the 0.6% Oxygen. Lactone agent, the 5% natural pyrethrin, the composite neem pesticide, the rotenone and the composite nicotine. The 0.5% veratrine shows a stable control efficacy, which is higher than 60% in Chengdu, while the composite nicotine shows the highest efficacy against A. lucorum, which is above 70%. In Yinchuan, the 0.5% veratrine shows the highest efficacy, against the first generation adults and the second generation larvae of E. apicalis, while the 5% natural pyrethrin shows 100% control efficacy against E. apicalis in Nanjiang. The 0.5% veratrine and the composite neem could be used as effective pesticides to control A. lucorum and the 5% natural pyrethrin can be used to control E. apicalis. They could be widely used in the production of pollution-free grapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technique of Raman spectroscopic imaging is finding ever-increasing applications in the field of wood science for its ability to provide spatial and spectral information about the sample. On the basis of the acquired Raman imaging data set, it is possible to determine the distribution of chemical components in various wood cell wall layers. However, the Raman imaging data set often contains thousands of spectra measured at hundreds or even thousands of individual frequencies, which results in difficulties accurately and quickly extracting all of the spectra within a specific morphological region of wood cell walls. To address this issue, the authors propose a new method to automatically identify Raman spectra of different cell wall layers on the basis of principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. A Raman imaging data set collected from a 55.5 μm × 47.5 μm cross-section of poplar tension wood was analyzed. Several thousand spectra were successfully classified into five groups in accordance with different morphological regions, namely, cell corner (CC), compound middle lamella (CML), secondary wall (SW), gelatinous layer (G-layer), and cell lumen. Their corresponding average spectra were also calculated. In addition, the relationship between different characteristic peaks in the obtained Raman spectra was estimated and it was found that the peak at 1331 cm-1 is more related to lignin rather than cellulose. Not only can this novel method provide a convenient and accurate procedure for identifying the spectra of different cell wall layers in a Raman imaging data set, but it also can bring new insights into studying the morphology and topochemistry in wood cell walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased levels of free fatty acids (FFAs) and hypertriglyceridemia are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The effective fraction isolated from radix astragali (RA) has been reported to alleviate hypertriglyceridemia. The mechanism of this triglyceride-lowering effect of RA is unclear. Here, we tested whether activation of the mTORC1-PPARγ signaling pathway is related to the triglyceride-lowering effect of RA. High-fat diet-induced obese (DIO) rats were fed a high-fat diet (40% calories from fat) for 9-10 weeks, and 4 g/kg/d RA was administered by gavage. RA treatment resulted in decreased fasting triglyceride levels, FFA concentrations, and adipocyte size. RA treated rats showed improved triglyceride clearance and fatty acid handling after olive oil overload. RA administration could also decrease macrophage infiltration and expression of MCP-1 and TNFa, but it may also increase the expression of PPARγ in epididymal adipose tissue from RA treated rats. Consistently, expressions of PPARγ and phospho-p70S6K were increased in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes treated with RA. Moreover, RA couldnot upregulate the expression of PPARγ at the presence ofrapamycin. In conclusion, the mTORC1-PPARγ signaling pathway is a potential mechanism through which RA exerts beneficial effects on the disturbance of triglyceride metabolism and dysfunction of adipose tissue in DIO rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transient behaviors of natural circulation loop (NCL) are important for the system reliability under postulated accidents. The heat loss and structure thermal inertia may influence the transient behaviors of NCL greatly, so a transient analysis model with consideration of heat loss was developed based on the MATLAB/Simulink to predict the thermal-hydraulic characteristic of liquid metal NCL. The transient processes including the start-up, the loss of pump, and the shutdown of thermal-hydraulic ADS lead bismuth loop (TALL) experimental facility were simulated by using the model. A good agreement is obtained to validate the transient model. The appended structure would provide significant thermal inertia and flatten the temperature distribution in the transients. The oscillations of temperature and flow rate are also weakened. The temperature difference between hot leg and cold leg would increase with the decrease of heat loss, so the flow rate increases as well. However, a significant increase of hot section temperature may cause a failure of facility integrity due to the decrease of heat loss. Hence, the full power of the core tank may also be limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal sensor placement is a key issue in the structural health monitoring of large-scale structures. However, some aspects in existing approaches require improvement, such as the empirical and unreliable selection of mode and sensor numbers and time consuming computation. A novel improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm is proposed to address these problems. The approach firstly employs the cumulative effective modal mass participation ratio to select mode number. Three strategies are then adopted to improve the PSO algorithm. Finally, the IPSO algorithm is utilized to determine the optimal sensors number and configurations. A case study of a latticed shell model is implemented to verify the feasibility of the proposed algorithm and four different PSO algorithms. The effective independence method is also taken as a contrast experiment. The comparison results show that the optimal placement schemes obtained by the PSO algorithms are valid, and the proposed IPSO algorithm has better enhancement in convergence speed and precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the inherent strongly nonlinear and coupling performance of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), the speed switching control method for AUV driven by states is presented. By using T-S fuzzy observer to estimate the states of AUV, the speed control strategies in lever plane, vertical plane, and speed kept are established, respectively. Then the adaptive switching law is introduced to switch the speed control strategies designed in real time. In the simulation, acoustic Doppler current profile/side scan sonar (ADCP/SSS) observation case is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the efficiency of AUV was improved, the trajectory tracking error was reduced, and the steady-state ability was enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pituitary tumors represent the most common intracranial neoplasms accompanying serious morbidity through mass effects and inappropriate secretion of pituitary hormones. Understanding the etiology of pituitary tumorigenesis will facilitate the development of satisfactory treatment for pituitary adenomas. Although the pathogenesis of pituitary adenomas is largely unknown, considerable evidence indicates that the pituitary tumorigenesis is a complex process involving multiple factors, including genetic and epigenetic changes. This review summarized the recent progress in the study of pituitary tumorigenesis, focusing on the role of tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes and microRNAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carex meyeriana Kunth was subjected to biological pretreatment with the white-rot fungus Trametes hirsuta C7784, and the structural changes of the lignin were investigated. Results showed that there was a slight decrease in carbohydrate content after pretreatment for 3 weeks, but a noticeable decrease in lignin and carbohydrate contents after 6 weeks. Detail structural analysis of the isolated lignin from the samples revealed that Carex meyeriana Kunth lignin consisted mainly of p-hydroxyphenyl (H), guaiacyl (G), and syringyl (S) units with minor p-coumarate and ferulate units. The predominant lignin interunits were β-O-4' ether linkages, followed by phenylcoumaran, together with a lower portion of resinol and tricin substructures. After pretreatment for 6 weeks, the contents of β-β' and β-5' linkages notably decreased, suggesting that the fungus preferentially attacked these linkages. The pretreatment led to an increase of S/G ratio from 0.64 in the control to 0.83 in the sample pretreated for 6 weeks. The comprehensive understanding of the structural changes of lignin offers new insights into the biological degradation of Carex meyeriana Kunth by white-rot fungus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have demonstrated a compensatory amplification phenomenon during nerve regeneration. When a relatively fine nerve is used as a donor to connect to a distal nerve after transection, the donor nerve regenerates more collaterals than its own fibers, which extend to the distal stump, grow into distal endoneurial tubes, and finally reach and dominate the target organs. This is known as the amplification phenomenon. In this study, we investigated the amplification phenomenon in rats treated with Modified Formula Radix Hedysari (MFRH) as adjuvant therapy for 12 weeks. The rats were divided into three groups at random (six animals in each group). In the model group and the treatment group, the proximal common peroneal nerve was used as a donor nerve to connect to the distal tibial nerve. Rats in the normal group did not undergo surgery. After surgery, the treatment group was administered MFRH as systemic therapy, while the model group and the normal group were not given treatment. The results demonstrated that the nerve conduction velocity, the fiber diameter, the axon diameter, the number of regenerating nerve fibers, and the amplification ratio were better in the treatment group than in the model group, suggesting that MFRH promoted the nerve amplification effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential gene expression in two sexes is widespread throughout the animal kingdom, giving rise to sex-dimorphic gene activities and sex-dependent adaptability to environmental cues, diets, growth and development as well as susceptibility to diseases. Here, we present a study using a toxicogenomic approach to investigate metabolic genes that show sexdimorphic expression in the zebrafish liver triggered by several chemicals. Our analysis revealed that, besides the known genes for xenobiotic metabolism, many functionally diverse metabolic genes, such as ELOVL fatty acid elongase, DNAdirected RNA polymerase, and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, were also sex-dimorphic in their response to chemical treatments. Moreover, sex-dimorphic responses were also observed at the pathway level. Pathways belonging to xenobiotic metabolism, lipid metabolism, and nucleotide metabolism were enriched with sex-dimorphically expressed genes. We also observed temporal differences of the sex-dimorphic responses, suggesting that both genes and pathways are differently correlated during different periods of chemical perturbation. The ubiquity of sex-dimorphic activities at different biological hierarchies indicate the importance and the need of considering the sex factor in many areas of biological researches, especially in toxicology and pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of dairy wastewater by a two-stage membrane process with ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) was investigated. The results showed that the flux of UF was higher at pH = 4.6 than that at pH = 8 because the resistance of the fouling membrane was lower at the isoelectric point of protein (pH = 4.6) in UF operation. Protein rejection exceeded 99% by UF + NF operation. Lactose rejections were 98.5 and 54% for UF+ NF90 and UF + NF270 respectively. Experiments on membrane cleaning showed that the fouling layer of UF and NF was mainly protein and casein which could be removed by aqueous NaOH with pH = 10. The result of long-term experiments showed that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of NF90 permeates was below 70 mg/L consistently and the wastewater could be concentrated to 24% by a two-stage membrane process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Thirty thousand infants are born every year with congenital hearing impairment in mainland China. Racial and regional factors are important in clinical diagnosis of genetic deafness. However, molecular etiology of hearing impairment in the Tibetan Chinese population living in the Tibetan Plateau has not been investigated. To provide appropriate genetic testing and counseling to Tibetan families, we investigated molecular etiology of nonsyndromic deafness in this population. Methods: A total of 114 unrelated deaf Tibetan children from the Tibet Autonomous Region were enrolled. Five prominent deafness-related genes, GJB2, SLC26A4, GJB6, POU3F4, and mtDNA 12S rRNA, were analyzed. Inner ear development was evaluated by temporal CT. A total of 106 Tibetan hearing normal individuals were included as genetic controls. For radiological comparison, 120 patients, mainly of Han ethnicity, with sensorineural hearing loss were analyzed by temporal CT. Results: None of the Tibetan patients carried diallelic GJB2 or SLC26A4 mutations. Two patients with a history of aminoglycoside usage carried homogeneous mtDNA 12S rRNA A1555G mutation. Two controls were homozygous for 12S rRNA A1555G. There were no mutations in GJB6 or POU3F4. A diagnosis of inner ear malformation was made in 20.18% of the Tibetan patients and 21.67% of the Han deaf group. Enlarged vestibular aqueduct, the most common inner ear deformity, was not found in theTibetan patients, but was seen in 18.33% of the Han patients. Common molecular etiologies, GJB2 and SLC26A4 mutations, were rare in the Tibetan Chinese deaf population. Conclusion: The mutation spectrum of hearing loss differs significantly between Chinese Tibetan patients and Han patients. The incidence of inner ear malformation in Tibetans is almost as high as that in Han deaf patients, but the types of malformation vary greatly. Hypoxia and special environment in plateau may be one cause of developmental inner ear deformity in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many stillbirths show evidence of fetal growth restriction, and most occur at preterm gestational age. The objective of this study is to compare birth weights at preterm gestational ages between live births and stillbirths, and between those occurring before or during labour. Methods: Based on singleton births from the United States (U.S.) 2003-2005 (n=902,491) and Sweden 1992-2001 (n=946,343), we compared birth weights between singleton live births and stillbirths at 24-36 completed weeks of gestation from the U.S. and at 28-42 completed weeks from Sweden. Results: In both the U.S. and Sweden, stillbirth weight-for-gestational-age z-scores were at least one standard deviation lower than live birth z-scores at all preterm gestational ages (GA). In Sweden, no birth weight difference was observed between antepartum and intrapartum stillbirths at preterm GAs, whereas birth weights among intrapartum stillbirths were similar to those among live births at 37-42 weeks. Conclusions: Birth weights observed at preterm gestation are abnormal, but preterm stillbirths appear to be more growth-restricted than preterm live birth. Similar birth weights among ante- and intrapartum preterm stillbirths suggest serious fetal compromise before the onset of labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hutcheon JA, Zhang X, Platt RW, Cnattingius S, Kramer MS. The case against customised birthweight standards. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2010. Customised birthweight standards are widely recognised to improve the prediction of adverse perinatal outcomes compared with conventional birthweight-for-gestational-age charts. However, their apparent benefits are more likely to have been derived from their incorporation of intrauterine-based (EFW) reference values at preterm ages than their adjustment for maternal characteristics. Although maternal characteristics are able to explain population-level differences in birthweight, they are not strong enough predictors for individual-level prediction of birthweight. With maternal characteristics accounting for only a small per cent of the total factors influencing birthweight, the best estimate of an infant's birthweight remains close to the population average, explaining the ineffectiveness of adjusting for maternal characteristics. Given that customised percentiles are also unable to distinguish between pathological and physiological influences of maternal characteristics on birthweight, customising birthweight percentiles for maternal characteristics has little justification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a novel and simple method to fabricate two-dimensional (2D) poly(styrene sulfate) (PSS, negatively charged) colloidal crystals on a positively charged substrate. Our strategy contains two separate steps: one is the three-dimensional (3D) assembly of PSS particles in ethanol, and the other is electrostatic adsorption in water. First, 3D assembly in ethanol phase eliminates electrostatic attractions between colloids and the substrate. As a result, high-quality colloidal crystals are easily generated, for electrostatic attractions are unfavorable for the movement of colloidal particles during convective self-assembly. Subsequently, top layers of colloidal spheres are washed away in the water phase, whereas well-packed PSS colloids that are in contact with the substrate are tightly linked due to electrostatic interactions, resulting in the formation of ordered arrays of 2D colloidal spheres. Cycling these processes leads to the layer-by-layer assembly of 3D colloidal crystals with controllable layers. In addition, this strategy can be extended to the fabrication of patterned 2D colloidal crystals on patterned polyelectrolyte surfaces, not only on planar substrates but also on nonplanar substrates. This straightforward method may open up new possibilities for practical use of colloidal crystals of excellent quality, various patterns, and controllable fashions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new scheme for improving linearly tapered slot-line antenna (LTSA) has been proposed in this article. By setting five metallic strips as a grating into the slot-area of LTSA, a 2 dB increment of gain over the frequency range of (6.0–9.5) GHz and the bandwidth of (5.3–9.6) GHz for VSWR <2.0:1 are obtained. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 728–731, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25002 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the microstrip band-reject filters based on inter-digital capacitance loaded loop resonators (IDCLLRs) are proposed by using meandered microstip-line, which enhances the coupling to the resonators and provides more structural parameters for flexible design. First, an IDCLLR-based single-stage meandered prototype of band-reject filter has been designed and fabricated. The measured frequency response shows 2.2% relative stop-bandwidth (-10 dB) with -21 dB maximal insertion-loss at 3.34 GHz. Furthermore, the resonant frequencies versus inter-digital length are studied. Finally, an IDCLLR-based three-stage meandered prototype of band-reject filter was designed and fabricated too, the measured relative stop-bandwidth (-10 dB) is 6.2% and the insertion-loss at center frequency approaches -42 dB. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 166–169, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24885 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to describe the proportion of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) who had experienced an unsuccessful transfer from a pediatric rheumatology team to an adult rheumatologist and to compare the characteristics of those who achieved successful transfer to those who did not. Methods: We conducted a systematic chart review of all patients with JIA who attended their final Montreal Children's Hospital JIA clinic appointment between 1992 and 2005. We tracked these patients for the two years after transfer to an adult rheumatologist. We then compared characteristics of patients with successful and unsuccessful transfers of care. Variables pertaining to disease characteristics, disease severity and psychosocial factors were examined. Univariate analyses were performed to determine if any single factor was associated with the outcome of unsuccessful transfer of care. Results: 52% of patients fulfilled our criteria for unsuccessful transfer. Of the variables tested, an active joint count (AJC) of zero at last visit was associated with the outcome of unsuccessful transfer (OR = 2.67 (CI 1.16-6.16; p = 0.0199)). Conclusions: Despite the presence of a coordinated process of transfer from pediatric to adult health care for the majority of the patients in this study, there was a high rate of unsuccessful transfer and/or sustained follow up which is disheartening. We found that patients with less active disease at the time of transfer, as indicated by a lower AJC, were more likely to be lost to follow up. Recent literature suggests that even in the least severe categories of JIA, 50% of patients persist with active disease into adulthood. Thus educating all JIA patients about the possibility of disease flare in adulthood may improve their adherence to recommendations for sustained follow-up in the adult milieu. This may lead to improvement of longitudinal outcomes for all JIA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]