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Air ionizers and 222-nm krypton-chlorine (KrCl) excilamp have proven to be effective disinfection apparatus for bacteria and viruses with limited health risks. We determined inactivation efficiencies by operating them individually and in combined modules. Gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, non-enveloped dsDNA virus, and enveloped dsRNA virus were examined in a designed air disinfection system. Our results showed that the bioaerosols were inactivated efficiently by negative ionizers and far-UVC (222-nm), either used individually or in combination. Among which the combined modules of negative ionizers and KrCl excilamp had the best disinfection performance for the bacteria. The aerosolized virus P22 and Phi 6 were more susceptible to 222-nm emitted by KrCl excilamp than negative air ions. Significant greater inactivation of bacterial bioaerosols were identified after treated by combined treatment of negative air ion and far-UVC for 2 minutes (Escherichia coli, 6.25 natural log (ln) reduction; Staphylococcus epidermidis, 3.66 ln reduction), as compared to the mean sum value of inactivation results by respective individual treatment of negative ionizers and KrCl excilamp (Escherichia coli, 4.34 ln; Staphylococcus epidermidis, 1.75 ln), indicating a synergistic inactivation effect. The findings provide important baseline data to support the design and development of safe and high-efficient disinfection systems.

We consider a compound Poisson insurance risk model perturbed by diffusion with stochastic return on investment and debit interest. If the initial surplus is nonnegative, then the insurance company can invest this surplus in a risky asset and risk-free asset based on a fixed proportion. Otherwise, if the surplus is negative, then the insurance company can get the business loan. The integrodifferential equations for the function generating moments of the values of cumulative dividends are obtained for the barrier and threshold dividend strategies, respectively. The expected dividend value is obtained in the closed form in the case where the claim amount is exponentially distributed.

Review the literature on the economic evaluation of PCV-10, PCV-13 and PPSV-23 for providing references for decision-making and research in China. A total of 17 literatures were included, and the basic information to descriptive characteristics, methodology, modeling and the results were extracted. The 14 studies adopted Markov model, 2 studies adopted decision tree model and 1 study adopted probabilistic model. The cost including vaccine price and administration costs, direct medical expenses and indirect lost. All the 17 studies use QALY as the outcome, some studies also use LYG as the outcome. 9 of 13 studies (69.2%) involving people over the age of 50 concluded that pneumococcal vaccination was cost-effective. To provide effective references for decision-makers, China should collect the relevant epidemiological parameters, vaccine effect of pneumococcal disease in the Chinese population and carry out the economic evaluation of pneumococcal vaccination.综合分析国内外PCV-10、PCV-13、PPSV-23疫苗经济学评价文献为我国有关决策和研究开展提供参考。本综述共纳入17项研究，对纳入研究的基本信息、模型、方法学及评价结果等信息进行整理分析。14项研究使用马尔可夫模型，2项研究使用决策树模型，1项研究使用概率模型。成本测算主要包括疫苗及接种费用、相关疾病直接医疗费用及间接损失三大类，效果的测算均使用QALY，部分研究在此基础上还计算了LYG作为效果的一部分。13项以50岁以上人群为研究的对象的研究中9项（69.2%）研究认为接种肺炎球菌疫苗是具有经济性的。我国应当收集本土人群肺炎球菌疾病相关流行病学参数及疫苗效果，开展基于我国本土数据的肺炎球菌疫苗接种经济学评价，为决策者提供相应的参考依据。.

To explore the effect of integrin β3 (ITGB3) gene silencing mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) in mice.MIRI mice model was established, and myocardial tissues of MIRI mice and sham operation group mice were extracted. Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the pathological changes of myocardial tissue; terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining was used to detect the apoptosis of myocardial cells; ELISA method was used to detect the levels of interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the two groups. The infarct size was measured by TTC staining. Myocardial cells of MIRI model mice were isolated and cultured, and then grouped and transfected. The cells were transfected with the grouping of MIRI group, negative control (NC) group, MAPK signal pathway agonist Anisomycin group, MAPK signal pathway inhibitor SB203580 group, ITGB3-siRNA group, SB203580 + ITGB3-siRNA group. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expressions of ITGB3, p38MAPK/p-p38MAPK, GSK-3β/p-GSK-3β, Cx43/p-Cx43, pro-apoptotic factor Bax and anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2. 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay was used to detect cell proliferation and flow cytometry to detect cell apoptosis.The expression of ITGB3 in myocardial tissue of MIRI mice was significantly higher than that of sham operated mice (p0.05). Compared with the sham operation group, the apoptosis rate of myocardial cells in MIRI group was significantly increased, the expression levels of IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly increased, and the myocardial infarction area was significantly increased (all p0.05). Compared with MIRI and NC groups, ITGB3 mRNA and protein expression levels in ITGB3-siRNA group and SB203580 + ITGB3-siRNA group were significantly decreased (all p0.05), but no significant change was found in Anisomycin group and SB203580 group (p0.05). Furthermore, ITGB3-siRNA group and Anisomycin group had markedly decreased mRNA and protein expressions of ITGB3 and Bax, increased mRNA and protein expressions of p38MAPK/p-p38MAPK, GSK-3β/p-GSK-3β, Cx43/p-Cx43 and Bcl-2, as well as increased cell proliferation and decreased cell apoptosis (all p0.05); SB203580 group indicated an opposite result with Anisomycin group; while SB203580 + ITGB3-siRNA revealed none significant statistical difference. In addition, compared with ITGB3-siRNA group, SB203580 + ITGB3-siRNA group showed significantly upregulated mRNA and protein expressions of Bax, downregulated mRNA and protein expressions of p38MAPK/p-p38MAPK, GSK-3β/p-GSK-3β, Cx43/p-Cx43 and Bcl-2, as well as decreased cell proliferation and increased cell apoptosis (all p0.05).Silencing ITGB3 gene expression can promote the activation of MAPK signaling pathway, elevate the phosphorylation of GSK-3β and Cx43 in the downstream, promote the proliferation of mouse myocardial cells, inhibit myocardial cell apoptosis and inflammatory reaction, and thus have protective effect on MIRI in mice.

On March 11, 2020, WHO officially declared that COVID-19 had become Pandemic. As of March 31, the epidemic had affected more than 178 countries and regions, with more than 780 000 confirmed cases. The Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework for the sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccines and other benefits (the 'PIP Framework' or 'Framework') is an international arrangement adopted by the World Health Organization in May 2011 to improve global pandemic influenza preparedness and response. Since the transmission route and transmission capacity of COVID-19 are similar to that of influenza A (H1N1) in 2009, which conforms to the basic elements of "human pandemic", and the epidemic scale has exceeded that of influenza A (H1N1)， it is probable to incorporate COVID-19 epidemic response into PIPF, and at the same time to verify and improve PIPF in practice. It is recommended that WHO, other international organizations and relevant countries make full use of the PIPF system to respond to the epidemic and better coordinate national actions at the global level. At the same time, China should also make the planning and deploy of domestic epidemic prevention and control and international epidemic cooperation under the framework.2020年3月11日，WHO正式宣布新型冠状病毒肺炎（简称新冠肺炎）疫情规模已形成大流行。截至3月31日，疫情波及超过178个国家和地区，累计确诊病例超过78万例。2011年，WHO已建立大流行性流感防范框架（PIPF），以平等、透明、公正地共享H5N1流感病毒及其他可能引起人间大流行的流感病毒，进而获取疫苗、共享其他相关利益，推动全球流感大流行防范和应对工作。由于新冠肺炎的传播途径、传播力与2009年甲型H1N1流感病毒相似，符合“引起人间大流行”的基本要素，且流行规模已超过甲型H1N1流感大流行，因此可以将新冠肺炎疫情应对纳入PIPF，同时实战验证并改进PIPF。建议WHO、其他国际组织和相关国家充分利用PIPF体系应对疫情，在全球层面更好地协调各个国家的行动；同时，我国也应在框架下全面做好国内疫情防控和国际疫情协同的规划与布局。.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a common pathogen associated with nosocomial infections and is characterised serologically by capsular polysaccharide (K) and lipopolysaccharide O antigens. We surveyed a total of 348 non-duplicate K. pneumoniae clinical isolates collected over a 1-year period in a tertiary care hospital, and determined their O and K serotypes by sequencing of the wbb Y and wzi gene loci, respectively. Isolates were also screened for antimicrobial resistance and hypervirulent phenotypes; 94 (27.0%) were identified as carbapenem-resistant (CRKP) and 110 (31.6%) as hypervirulent (hvKP). isolates fell into 58 K, and six O types, with 92.0% and 94.2% typeability, respectively. The predominant K types were K14K64 (16.38%), K1 (14.66%), K2 (8.05%) and K57 (5.46%), while O1 (46%), O2a (27.9%) and O3 (11.8%) were the most common. CRKP and hvKP strains had different serotype distributions with O2a:K14K64 (41.0%) being the most frequent among CRKP, and O1:K1 (26.4%) and O1:K2 (17.3%) among hvKP strains. Serotyping by gene sequencing proved to be a useful tool to inform the clinical epidemiology of K. pneumoniae infections and provides valuable data relevant to vaccine design.

Concurrency makes robot programming challenging even for professional programmers, yet it is essential for rich, interactive social robot behaviors. Visual programming aims to lower the barrier for robot programming but does not support rich concurrent behavior for meaningful robotics applications. In this paper, we explore extensions to block-based visual languages to enable programming of concurrent behavior with (1) asynchronous procedure calls, which encourage imperative programming, (2) callbacks, which encourage event-driven programming, and (3) promise, which also encourages imperative programming by providing event synchronization utilities. We compare these approaches through a systematic analysis of social robot programs with representative concurrency patterns, as well as a user study (N=23) in which participants authored such programs. Our work identifies characteristic differences between these approaches and demonstrates that the promise-based concurrency interface enables more concise programs with fewer errors.

COVID-19 is caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). COVID-19 clinical cases are considered as the principal source of infection, however, asymptomatic cases may also play a role in the transmission. Significant gap exists in terms of the proportion or prevalence and transmissibility of asymptomatic cases. This study design plans to use data from areas with different epidemiological profiles to investigate the COVID-19 epidemic in China. In each selected region, both general community residents and key populations at high risk of COVID-19 infection, including recovered COVID-19 cases, close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases, medical professionals, investigators at CDCs, and visitors to fever clinics, will be recruited and examined for viral RNA of 2019-nCoV and serum antibodies. Prevalence and characterization of asymptomatic cases will be determined, stratified by varied demographics and exposure risk. During the follow-up, the change in the serum antibodies will be studied prospectively in the symptomatic and asymptomatic cases to address the scientific and public health concerns of infectivity and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV.新型冠状病毒可引起新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）。患者是主要传染源，但无症状感染者也可能成为传染源，且引起社区传播的风险更大。目前，关于人群中无症状感染率及其传染性尚无定论。本研究设计选取COVID-19疫情高发与低发地区作为研究现场，对社区人群和重点人群（包括COVID-19治愈病例、确诊病例的密切接触者、医护人员/CDC流行病学调查人员、发热门诊患者）开展流行病学问卷调查、血清抗体和核酸检测，确定不同人口社会学特征和暴露风险人群的新型冠状病毒无症状感染率，及其流行病学特征；对确诊病例和无症状感染者开展流行病学随访，分析血清抗体水平变化，评估传染性和传播风险。.

In this study, maleic anhydride – grafted high-density polyethylene (HDPE-g-MAH) and glycidyl methacrylate–grafted high-density polyethylene (HDPE-g-GMA) were synthesized by melting grafting reaction using styrene as a comonomer. These two functionalized HDPEs and three commercial functionalized polyolefins (Fusabond®M603, PE-g-MAH, and PEW-g-MAH) were used to compatibilize HDPE/bamboo flour (BF) composites. The morphologies and properties of compatibilized and uncompatibilized composites were compared to determine the optimal compatibilizer for HDPE/BF composites. Besides, the effect of HDPE-g-MAH and HDPE-g-GMA contents on the properties of HDPE/BF composites was also investigated. The results show that HDPE-g-MAH and HDPE-g-GMA can more effectively improve the mechanical properties of HDPE/BF composites than the three commercial compatibilizers (Fusabond®M603 resin, PE-g-MAH, and PEW-g-MAH). In addition, HDPE-g-MAH is more effective than HDPE-g-GMA because of the stronger interaction between anhydride and hydroxyl groups than that between epoxy and hydroxyl groups. The use of HDPE-g-MAH and HDPE-g-GMA contributes to improve the thermal stability and reduce the water absorption of HDPE/BF composites.

Children are a high-risk group of burn, and burn pain is a special type of pain. Because children of different ages have different cognitive ability and behavioral response to pain, thus it is particularly difficult to effectively evaluate the pain. It is very important for medical staff to understand the pain of children, to define the adverse reactions of pain, to evaluate and take appropriate pain intervention measures in time and effectively. In this paper, different evaluation methods of burn pain in children and non-drug intervention related measures were reviewed in order to provide references for clinical practice.小儿是发生烧伤的高危人群，烧伤疼痛是一种特殊类型的疼痛。由于不同年龄段的患儿对疼痛的认知能力及行为反应存在差异，故针对小儿进行有效疼痛评估尤为困难。了解患儿的疼痛，明确疼痛的不良反应，及时有效地评估及采取合适的疼痛干预措施对于医护人员至关重要。本文针对小儿烧伤疼痛的不同评估方法及非药物干预相关措施进行综述，以期为临床提供参考。.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a common pathogen associated with nosocomial infections and is characterised serologically by capsular polysaccharide (K) and lipopolysaccharide O antigens. We surveyed a total of 348 non-duplicate K. pneumoniae clinical isolates collected over a 1-year period in a tertiary care hospital, and determined their O and K serotypes by sequencing of the wbb Y and wzi gene loci, respectively. Isolates were also screened for antimicrobial resistance and hypervirulent phenotypes; 94 (27.0%) were identified as carbapenem-resistant (CRKP) and 110 (31.6%) as hypervirulent (hvKP). isolates fell into 58 K, and six O types, with 92.0% and 94.2% typeability, respectively. The predominant K types were K14K64 (16.38%), K1 (14.66%), K2 (8.05%) and K57 (5.46%), while O1 (46%), O2a (27.9%) and O3 (11.8%) were the most common. CRKP and hvKP strains had different serotype distributions with O2a:K14K64 (41.0%) being the most frequent among CRKP, and O1:K1 (26.4%) and O1:K2 (17.3%) among hvKP strains. Serotyping by gene sequencing proved to be a useful tool to inform the clinical epidemiology of K. pneumoniae infections and provides valuable data relevant to vaccine design.

Transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops are increasingly significant in pest control, but resistance development of target pests is a major issue in the sustainable deployment of Bt crops. The fitness cost of resistance in target pests is regarded as one of the main factors delaying resistance when adopting the refuge strategy. In this study, we compared the life-history traits of three independent sets of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1809) adults, of each there were a susceptible population and a Cry1Ac-resistant population derived by selection from it. Confirming to the previous studies, resistant individuals exhibited fewer progeny, less fecundity, lower egg hatching rate, and longer adult longevity. And poor fecundity in resistant strains was associated with the decline of the mature follicular amount, the ovarian weight ratio, and the length of the longest ovarian tubule. Interestingly, the juvenile hormone (JH) level appeared higher in resistant strains relative to susceptible strains. Application of methoprene (JH analogue) in vivo was effective in reducing fecundity and hatchability with the up-regulation of detected JH titer. These results suggested that resistance against Bt toxin reduced the reproductive capacity of H. armigera, and JH level is affected in the tradeoff between reproductive capacity and Bt resistance.

Silver nanodots, nanoparticles and nanoclusters have been of immense interest to researchers for some time now. A lot has been published in this field from synthesis to optical properties of various types of silver nanoclusters. In this work we explore the impact of polarized excitation on modulatability and fluorescence enhancement of silver (Ag) nanocluster. Ag nanoclusters as previously reported are enhancible and modulatable, however, for pathological application purposes emission in NIR even IR is desirable, so that the fluorescence signal detection over the auto-fluorescence background signal in vivo mode becomes easier. In a preliminary work we have seen a rise in anisotropic values beyond the maximum steady state anisotropy of 0.4 when the sample is excited using two colored laser light. Though there are numerous multi-photon study results available in literature, this is first of its kind where we use two polarized excitations to sequentially probe the excitable dark state of the cluster and the emission is then analyzed to obtain a value of steady state anisotropy along with changes observed in signal enhancement owing to modulation of the secondary excitation source. Ag nanocluster samples encapsulated by 10- or 12-mer ss-DNA capable of producing red to NIR light upon excitation at shorter wavelengths were prepared in-house.

In the past decades, people's work and life styles have dramatically changed during the rapid economic development and urbanization in China. A national survey reported that Chinese adults spend an average of 81% of daily time in indoor environment. Exposure to indoor air pollution plays key roles for human health but is likely to be neglected due on the relatively lower concentration levels and lower awareness among common people. Till now, published studies focus more on the pollution levels or the toxicological effects of indoor air pollutants but there is a lack of disease burden assessment attributable to indoor air pollution. In this review, several international studies were introduced on the disease burden estimation attributable to indoor air pollution, as well as the estimation methods. The current situation of national study was also reviewed. The strengths and limitations of the representative international studies were discussed. This review is helpful in providing data to guide the research on disease burden assessment attributable to indoor air pollution in China, and further helps to prioritize the indoor air pollution control based on disease burden ranking among pollutants and motivate public policies to protect the public health.随着我国经济的快速发展，现代人的生活和工作方式已经发生了极大的改变，室内空气污染为主要标志的第三污染时期已经到来。现有数据表明，目前我国成年人每天室内活动时间平均占全天81%，室内空气污染与人群健康关系密切。我国当前的室内空气污染研究更多关注了污染物本身浓度水平及其毒理学效应，并未充分评估室内空气污染物造成的人群疾病负担。本文介绍目前国外开展的几项经典的室内空气污染物所致疾病负担的研究案例，例如欧洲六国九大室内危险因素的环境负担评价、美国住宅环境慢性健康影响评价以及全球疾病负担空气污染评价，并总结了我国目前的室内环境疾病负担的研究现状，旨在为进一步推动并完善我国的室内空气质量标准及体系，逐步建立基于室内空气污染疾病负担排序的室内污染控制的优先次序，从而为更好地保护人群健康提供科学参考和依据。.

This research focused on the industries of catering services and took the Bao Wei Zhen Catering Team, for example, to explore the relationship between ‘brand image’, ‘service quality’, ‘customer satisfaction’, and ‘customer loyalty’. It was meant to found out the important factors affecting consumer satisfaction and the words of mouth. From this research, it could be found that service quality exerted very important influence on the culture of traditional catering services. That was to say when service quality was good, not only the brand image could be improved but also customer satisfaction would be enhanced. Therefore, if it was necessary to further improve the competitiveness of traditional catering service industries, the improvement of service quality was required. Through the improvement of service quality, the current plight faced by the culture of catering services could be effectively improved. Keywords: brand image, service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, catering team

Nowadays, high blood pressure (HBP) is one of the most common chronic diseases in China. This survey aims to assess HBP prevalence, and related disease awareness, treatment and control among rural population in Haimen, Jiangsu province, China. A total of 7538 rural residents, aged over 18 years, from four randomly selected villages in Haimen, were selected to participate in the blood pressure examination in September 2010, the male-to-female ratio of participants was 1:1.57. In all, 2034 patients were diagnosed with HBP. The total crude prevalence of HBP was 26.98%, the overall standardized prevalence of HBP was 24.38%. Both male and female prevalence rates demonstrate ascending trend with age. Awareness, treatment and control rates among all patients were 68.34%, 61.46% and 27.43% respectively, whereas the corresponding rates in young group (18-44 years) were lower (50.94%, 35.85%, 24.53%). Improving treatment coverage and efficacy should be the focus of HBP prevention in rural areas in China.

To dissect the functioning mode of miR-30c on giant cell tumor of bone cell metastasis and growth and provide therapeutic targets for giant cell tumor of bone.By quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), miR-30c expression level in 62 pairs of giant cell tumor of bone cells tissue samples and five breast cancer-derived cell lines. Using miR-30c mimics and inhibitors, we analyzed the effects of miR-30c over-expression and knockdown on cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Dual-luciferase activity assay was recruited to examine the potential target gene HOXA1, which predicted by several databases. Protein level was studied using Western blot.MiR-30c expressed significantly lower in giant cell tumor of bone tissue samples and cell lines. Over-expression miR-30c in giant cell tumor of bone cells decreased the cell proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities while down-regulation miR-30c in giant cell tumor of bone cells increased these abilities oppositely. Dual-luciferase and Western blot confirmed HOXA1 as a target gene of miR-30c. Furthermore, up-regulation of HOXA1 reserved the suppressive effect of miR-30c over-expression on cell growth and progression.miR-30c could suppress giant cell tumor of bone cell proliferation and progression via HOXA1, which might provide a new target for giant cell tumor of bone diagnosis and therapy.

van der Waals heterostructures (VDWHs) exhibit rich properties and thus has potential for applications, and charge transfer between different layers in a heterostructure often dominates its properties and device performance. It is thus critical to reveal and understand the charge transfer effects in VDWHs, for which electronic structure measurements have proven to be effective. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we studied the electronic structures of (PbSe)_{1.16}(TiSe_{2})_{m} (m=1, 2), which are naturally occurring VDWHs, and discovered several striking charge transfer effects. When the thickness of the TiSe_{2} layers is halved from m=2 to m=1, the amount of charge transferred increases unexpectedly by more than 250%. This is accompanied by a dramatic drop in the electron-phonon interaction strength far beyond the prediction by first-principles calculations and, consequently, superconductivity only exists in the m=2 compound with strong electron-phonon interaction, albeit with lower carrier density. Furthermore, we found that the amount of charge transferred in both compounds is nearly halved when warmed from below 10 K to room temperature, due to the different thermal expansion coefficients of the constituent layers of these misfit compounds. These unprecedentedly large charge transfer effects might widely exist in VDWHs composed of metal-semiconductor contacts; thus, our results provide important insights for further understanding and applications of VDWHs.

Based on the hydrodynamic theory, combining the blocking filtration and cake layer filtration laws, a mathematical model considering pore and particle size distribution was proposed to simulate the cross-flow micro-filtration process. Moreover, this paper explored the effects of the distribution of membrane pore size on the flux mathematically and gave the criterion to decide the finishing of blocking stage and starting of formation of cake layer. The results indicated that the numerical values calculated agree well with experimental data.

In this paper, a test platform based on the Faraday Effect was designed to investigate the beam bunching and rotation characteristics of low power laser in permanent magnetic field. By changing the structural parameters of the permanent magnetic confined cavity, the effects of permanent magnetic field on the rotation characteristics of linearly polarized light and the beam bunching characteristics of low power laser were studied. In the tests of the rotation characteristics of the linearly polarized light, it was found that the rotation angle of linearly polarized light tended to decrease with the increase of the diameter of the magnetic cavity and the decrease of the number of magnets. The maximum rotation angle of linearly polarized light was 142.6°, and the minimum rotation angle was 13.6°. In the tests of beam bunching characteristics of low power laser, it was found that the laser spot area had a slight reduction and the laser power was slightly enhanced when the magnetic flux density increased from 0.4563T to 0.8243T, which proved that the strong magnetic field had a bunching effect on the low power laser.

To evaluate vitamin D status in middle-aged subjects in Beijing and explore the correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D[25(OH)D] levels and dyslipidemia.A total of 448 individuals over 40 years old were enrolled in the cross-sectional survey. The general information, blood biochemical and lipid profiles and serum 25(OH)D levels were collected. The subjects were either divided into two groups (the dyslipidemia group and the non-dyslipidemia group) based on the lipid levels, or four groups according to quartiles of 25(OH)D levels. The association between 25(OH)D levels and dyslipidemia risk was analyzed by a logistic regression analysis.A total of 234 cases were in dyslipidemia group, which accounted for 52.23% of the subjects. The serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly lower in the dyslipidemia group than in the non-dyslipidemia group both in men and in women (all P0.05). The median serum 25(OH)D level in the total subjects was 15.7 (12.2, 20.1)μg/L with 91.1% subjects of serum 25(OH)D level30 μg/L. The proportion of subjects with dyslipidemia (high TC, high TG, high LDL-C, or low HDL-C) increased with the decrease of 25(OH)D level quartiles (P0.05). After adjustment of confounding factors, the logistic regression analysis showed that subjects in the lowest 25(OH) D quartile group had 143% higher risks for dyslipidemia than those in the highest quartile group.These findings indicate that 25(OH)D insufficiency is highly prevalent among middle-aged individuals and it may be associated with the risk of dyslipidemia.

To investigate the relationship between sex hormones and metabolic syndrome (MS), as well as its components in elderly men.1 505 elderly men (≥60 years old, mean age 75.4±9.7 years old) who participated in a routine health screening examination in PLA general hospital from May to June in 2012 were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Serum lipids, glucose and sex hormones were measured along with body height, weight and blood pressure. Free testosterone (FT) and bioavailable testosterone (BT) were calculated. The correlation of serum sex hormones with the presence of MS and its components were analyzed.The prevalence of MS was 21.7% (326/1 505) in this study. Elderly men with MS had lower levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), total testosterone (TT), FT and BT than those without MS. The levels of SHBG, TT, FT and BT were significantly lower in the overweight/obesity group, hyperglycemia group and dyslipidemia group than those in the respective control groups (P0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the SHBG level was an independent risk factor for MS in elderly men(OR=0.977, 95%CI: 0.964-0.989, P0.001), while the levels of TT, FT and BT were not associated with MS. The prevalence of MS gradually increased with decreasing of SHBG values (P0.001). When comparing subjects in the lowest and highest quartile of SHBG, the former group demonstrated a 2.13-fold increase in the odds ratio for MS after adjusting for age, smoking, drinking and other sex hormone indices.In elderly men, lower SHBG level, not TT, FT or BT may be an independent predictor for the prevalence of MS, in which the mechanism requires further studies.

Porous copper films have been successfully electrodeposited using a hydrogen bubble template. The cationic surfactant cetyl trimethylammonium bromide, the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate, the non-ionic surfactant alkylphenol polyoxyethylene and combined surfactants were used as additives to the electroplating baths. The purpose was to evaluate the effects of these surfactants on the microstructure and morphology of porous electrodeposited copper films. X-ray diffraction results show an obvious difference in the crystallinities of porous copper films derived from baths containing different surfactants. Field emission scanning electron microscopy micrographs reveal that both the size and morphology of the pore walls acutely depend on the type of surfactant.

The main challenges currently encountered in chemotherapy are the lack of tumor selectivity and drug resistance. The design of novel cytostatic drugs has become the state-of-the-art technology in terms of targeted tumor therapy. This review illustrates the mechanisms and the advantages of representative chemotherapeutic agents, and presents an updated summary of the various drug design strategies developed by modern medicinal chemists during the most recent tumor targeting research which include rational design for overcoming drug resistance, the combi-targeting strategy, the prodrug approach, and tumor specific transporter based drug design. The concept of transporter related tumor targeting strategies for small molecule anticancer drug design discussed in this review may be amenable to predictable drug discovery for targeted therapy.

A composite double zinc phosphate conversion coating was obtained via forming a hopeite crystal layer on an amorphous phosphate layer on the AZ91D magnesium alloy. The surface morphology, structure and phase composition of the composite coating were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). As a comparison, the single zinc phosphate coating and the bare substrate were also discussed. The phosphate crystal clusters can form on the amorphous layer densely and fine. According to the open circuit potential (OCP) and potentiodynamic polarisation curve tests, the composite phosphate conversion coating on the AZ91D magnesium alloy yielded the best protective effect compared with the single amorphous layer and crystal layer.

Pharmacokinetics has been recognized as one of the elements determining the probability of success in pharmaceutical research. As a result, compounds are routinely evaluated in drug discovery for their absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination properties. The primary objective of these studies is to eliminate "flawed" molecules or a structural class based on preset selection criteria, while building a knowledge base for compilation of structure-activity relationships to guide chemistry synthesis efforts. This article is intended to provide a brief overview combined with critical evaluation on several strategies employed during lead optimization processes, and the analyses are supported by case studies. Future directions are discussed in the context of overcoming deficiencies in the current practice by developing tools enabling better prediction of clinical outcomes.

Adsorption of cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) on zeolite A has been investigated using surfactant-selective electrode technique. The electrode consisted of a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane based on neutral ion-pair carrier complex of cetyltrimethylammonium tetraphenylborate (CTA+TPB−). Adsorbance of CTAB on zeolite A was calculated from the potential and concentration response characteristics of the surfactant-selective electrode to get the surfactant adsorption isotherms. Adsorption isotherm of CTAB was S-shaped. The adsorbance was related to pH and electrolyte in the surfactant solutions.

Cytochrome P450 (P450) is the superfamily of enzymes responsible for biotransformation of endobiotics and xenobiotics. However, their large isoform multiplicity, inducibility, diverse structure, widespread distribution, polymorphic expression, and broad overlapping substrate specificity make it difficult to measure the precise role of each individual P450 to the metabolism of drugs (or carcinogens) and hamper the understanding of the relationship between the genetic/environmental factors that regulate P450 phenotype and the responses of the individual P450s to drugs. The antibodies against P450s have been useful tools for the quantitative determination of expression level and contribution of the epitope-specific P450 to the metabolism of a drug or carcinogen substrate in tissues containing multiple P450 isoforms and for implications in pharmacogenetics and human risk assessment. In particular, the inhibitory antibodies are uniquely suited for reaction phenotyping that helps to predict human pharmacokinetics for clinical drug-drug interaction potential in drug discovery and development.

Thin films of (Ti,Al)N with different Al contents were co-deposited using one Ti and one Al targets by radio frequency (RF) pulsed magnetron sputtering. Their composition, microstructure, nanohardness, surface morphology and deposition process were investigated by energy dispersive spectrometer system, X-ray diffraction, nanoindentation, atomic force microscopy and optical emission spectrum. A face cubic centred (fcc) TiN (B1) structure was found in the thin films when Al target power was low. When Al target power was increased, an additional hexagonal AlN (B4) structure appeared. With increasing Al content, the resulting films gradually changed from B1 structure to that of B4, accompanying with decrease of the lattice constant of B1 structure. Simultaneously, the preferred orientation of B4 structural thin films gradually transformed from (111) to (200). The mode of thin films transformed from island to fibre, subsequently to column with increasing Al target power. Optical emission spectrum anal...