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Abstract Background The prevalence of chronic conditions increases rapidly among older population. However, it is unclear how different chronic conditions progression contributes to the health care utilization, and whether intergenerational support modified this relationship. This study aimed to explore the longitudinal link between chronic condition progression and health care utilization, and examine whether intergenerational financial support is a moderator in this relationship among Chinese rural older people. Methods Data was derived from the Shandong Rural Elderly Health Cohort (SREHC), which was conducted from 2019 to 2020. A total of 2,785 participants were included in this study. Kruskal-Wallis rank tests and generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were employed to analyze the association between chronic condition progression and health care utilization. Moderating effect analysis was performed using GEE model and margins plot. Results Older people with progressive chronic conditions used more outpatient (no chronic condition to emerging multimorbidity: OR = 1.83; p = 0.028; one chronic condition to emerging multimorbidity: OR = 2.17; p

[Objective] Soil and water conservation is important in protecting and improving the ecological environment, which plays an important role for the sustainable development of ecosystems. [Methods] While the study of the soil and water conservation effectiveness in regional scale provide an effective theoretical basis for soil and water conservation. [Results] We supposed an estimation method for the regional-scale soil and water conservation rates by remote sensing based on the RUSLE (revised universal soil loss equation), and estimated its the spatial pattern in Shanxi Province.The results showed that the soil erosion in Shanxi Province is dominated by moderate erosion, with an area of about 49 545.68 km2, and the soil and water conservation rates is 68.38% in 2022, and the soil and water conservation rates accounted for the largest proportion in high level. The soil and water conservation rates of natural vegetation is higher than that of cropland, among which, the rates of forest is the highest at 84.37%. The soil and water conservation rates of the natural vegetation and cropland accounted for the largest proportion in high level with 48.11% and 46.46%, respectively. The rates is greatly affected by slopes, and showed a trend of significant decrease followed by gentle fluctuation. Compared with previous researches, the estimated spatial pattern of soil erosion in Shanxi Province were consistent with the existing data. And the estimated soil and water conservation rates was significantly correlated with the published targets. [Conclusion] The method of estimating soil and water conservation rates at the regional scale by remote sensing can provide an important theoretical and methodological basis for evaluating the effectiveness and impact of soil and water conservation ecological projects and other national large-scale ecological projects.

During the normal operation of cooling towers in nuclear power plants, water vapor with a certain temperature is discharged through the outlet of the cooling tower, which mixes with the surrounding air. A portion of this vapor condenses and forms visible plumes. This paper uses Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation software to simulate six nuclear power units and their supporting cooling towers at a nuclear power plant site, and studies the impact of plumes emitted from the six cooling towers under different wind directions on the radioactive diffusion of the nuclear power plant discharge. The research results indicate that when the arrangement direction of the cooling towers is consistent with the wind direction，the influence of the cooling towers on the environmental flow field extends to a distance of approximately 1 500 m in the downwind direction. When the cooling towers are located in the downwind direction of the reactor unit, the emission from the cooling towers increases the pollution diffusion factor within a 1 000 m range of the chimney. As the environmental wind speed increases, the impact of the cooling tower emissions on the diffusion of pollutants from the chimney decreases.

Carnosine dipeptidase 1 (CNDP1), an enzyme integral to the hydrolysis of dipeptides containing histidine, plays an indispensable role in myriad physiological processes, including hydrolysis of proteins, maturation of specific biochemical functionalities within proteins, tissue regeneration, and regulation of cell cycle. However, the implications of CNDP1 in oncogenesis and its prognostic value are not yet fully elucidated. Initially, we procured the GSE40367 dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus and established a protein–protein interaction network. Thereafter, we conducted functional and pathway enrichment analyses utilizing GO, KEGG, and GSEA. Moreover, we undertook an association analysis concerning the expression of CNDP1 with immune infiltration, along with survival analysis across various cancers and specifically in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our study uncovered a total of 2,248 differentially expressed genes, with a down-regulation of CNDP1 in HCC and other cancers. Our explorations into the relationship between CNDP1 and immune infiltration disclosed a negative correlation between CNDP1 expression and the presence of immune cells in HCC. Survival analyses revealed that diminished expression of CNDP1 correlates with an adverse prognosis in HCC and several other types of cancer. These observations intimate that CNDP1 holds promise as a novel prognostic biomarker for both pan-cancer and HCC.

Objective·To evaluate the effectiveness of the tele-rehabilitation program based on the smart wearable device BPMpathway in patients after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).Methods·Convenience sampling method was used to select patients with knee osteoarthritis after TKA admitted to both the Department of Orthopedics in the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (Suzhou Dushu Lake Hospital) and The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, from April 2021 to December 2022, as the study population. According to the sequence of the patients′ admissions, patients with an odd hospitalization number were allocated to the control group while those with an even number to the intervention group. The control group received the routine home-based rehabilitation training program, while the intervention group was additionally subjected to the tele-rehabilitation program based on the BPMpathway. At baseline, and 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after TKA, the two groups of patients were evaluated by the compliance scale of functional exercise for orthopedic patients, the Hospital for Special Surgery Scale (HSS), and 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), while the knee joint motion of the patients was measured.Results·One hundred and ten patients with knee osteoarthritis after TKA were finally enrolled, including 56 patients in the control group and 54 patients in the intervention group. There were no statistically significant differences in the general information between the two groups. The differences in knee range of motion, HSS score, and SF-36 score between the two groups at baseline were not statistically significant. Repeated measurement variance analysis showed that the between-group effect, time effect and interaction effect of knee range of motion, functional exercise compliance score, HSS score and SF-36 total score were statistically significant in both groups (all P

The role of melatonin and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in enhancing abiotic stress tolerance has been widely investigated. However, the mechanism underlying the interaction between melatonin and PGPR in drought stress tolerance is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the role of Bacillus sp. strain IPR-4 co-inoculated with melatonin (IPR-4/MET) to ameliorate drought stress response in soybean. Initially, 16 random isolates were selected from a previously pooled collection of isolates from soil at plant physiology lab, and were screesn for plant growth promoting (PGP) traits and their survival rate polyethylene glycol (PEG6000) (5%, 10%, and 15%). Among these isolate Bacillus sp. strain IPR-4 were selected on base of its significant PGP traits such as the survival rate gradient concentrations of PEG6000 (5%, 10%, and 15%) compared to other isolates, and produced high levels of indole-3-acetic acid and organic acids, coupled with exopolysaccharide, siderophores, and phosphate solubilization under drought stress. The Bacillus sp. strain IPR-4 were then validated using 16S rRNA sequencing. To further investigate the growth-promoting ability of the Bacillus sp. IPR-4 and its potential interaction with MET, the bacterial inoculum (40 mL of 4.5 × 10−8 cells/mL) was applied alone or in combination with MET to soybean plants for 5 days. Then, pre-inoculated soybean plants were subjected to drought stress conditions for 9 days by withholding water under greenhouse conditions. Furthermore, when IPR-4/MET was applied to plants subjected to drought stress, a significant increase in plant height (33.3%) and biomass (fresh weight) was observed. Similarly, total chlorophyll content increased by 37.1%, whereas the activity of peroxidase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase increased by 38.4%, 34.14%, 76.8%, 69.8%, and 31.6%, respectively. Moreover, the hydrogen peroxide content and malondialdehyde decreased by 37.3% and 30% in drought-stressed plants treated with IPR-4 and melatonin. Regarding the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl activity and total phenolic content, shows 38% and 49.6% increase, respectively. Likewise, Bacillus–melatonin-treated plants enhanced the uptake of magnesium, calcium, and potassium by 31.2%, 50.7%, and 30.5%, respectively. Under the same conditions, the salicylic acid content increased by 29.1%, whereas a decreasing abscisic acid content (25.5%) was observed. The expression levels of GmNCED3, GmDREB2, and GmbZIP1 were recorded as the lowest. However, Bacillus–melatonin-treated plants recorded the highest expression levels (upregulated) of GmCYP707A1 and GmCYP707A2, GmPAL2.1, and GmERD1 in response to drought stress. In a nutshell, these data confirm that Bacillus sp. IPR-4 and melatonin co-inoculation has the highest plant growth-promoting efficiency under both normal and drought stress conditions. Bacillus sp. IPR-4/melatonin is therefore proposed as an effective plant growth regulator that optimizes nutrient uptake, modulates redox homeostasis, and enhances drought tolerance in soybean plants.

White matter hyperintensity （WMH） is one of the imaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease （CSVD）. Recent studies have found certain relationship between WMH and cognitive impairment. In this article，the mechanism of WMH formation，the relationship between WMH and cognitive impairment，the mechanism of cognitive dysfunction caused by WMH were reviewed，aiming to deepen the understanding of the relationship between WMH and cognitive impairment.

In recent years, against the backdrop of the national high attention to cybersecurity, the implementation of grade protection systems has been vigorously carried out in various industries within the Internet+ environment. However, the construction of grade protection systems has gradually revealed several issues: network product providers have a weak security awareness and lack of secure development experiences, leading to systems often failing to meet their grade protection requirements; Grade protection evaluation is complex and tedious, consuming a significant amount of time and labor costs. To address the issues above, this paper proposes a construction method for grade protection systems based on STRIDE threat modeling: by establishing the correspondence between threats and grade protection requirements, threats are eliminated during the system development process while implementing the content of grade protection requirements; through the security verification of threat elimination, materials for grade protection evaluation are accumulated, and work reuse is leveraged to alleviate the workload of grade protection evaluation. Implementing this method can effectively promote the construction of grade protection systems.

Sleep can affect nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We investigated the association between sleep duration, sleep quality, and NAFLD. From January to December 2018, 1,073 patients (age: 37.94 ± 10.88, Body Mass Index (BMI): 22.85 ± 3.27) were enrolled. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire and Munich Chronotype Questionnaire were used to assess sleep duration, quality, and habits. Ultrasonography was used to diagnose NAFLD. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the risk of NAFLD by different types of sleep duration and sleep quality. No significant differences in sleep time, sleep quality, and sleep habits between the NAFLD and the non-NAFLD groups were observed (P > 0.05). There was no correlation between sleep duration and NAFLD in the whole cohort. After adjusting for age, exercise, fasting plasma glucose, and BMI, the group with long sleep duration showed a decreased risk of NAFLD in men (OR = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.001–0.27, P = 0.032). However, in all four adjusted models, no correlation between sleep duration, quality, and NAFLD was found in women. In conclusion, sleep duration was significantly and negatively associated with NAFLD in men but not women. Prospective studies are required to confirm this association.

Objective To explore the establishment of a comprehensive risk assessment model for falls in the elderly people in China. Methods Meta-analysis reappraisal combined with structured expert consultation were used to screen out risk factors for falls and OR values into the model, and established a logistic regression comprehensive evaluation model. Results The model finally included 32 indicators: age, history of falls, exercise, use of walking aids, Abnormal gait, abnormal balance, sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment, frailty, urinary/fecal incontinence, dizziness/vertigo, visual impairment, hearing impairment, lower extremity arthritis, History of stroke, diabetes, orthostatic hypotension, Parkinson's, dementia, anemia, arrhythmia, depression, foot diseases, antipsychotics, antidepressants, hypnotic sedatives, antiepileptics, opioids , loop diuretics, cardiac glycosides, hypoglycemic agents, laxatives. Conclusion Based on meta-analysis and experts' opinions, this study established a risk assessment model for falls in elderly people in China, which effectively avoided the problem of small sample size. The model was based on evidence-based medicine, and provided a basis and guidance for the screening and intervention of high-risk groups. (目的 探讨构建适用于中国老年人跌倒风险综合评估模型。方法 利用Meta分析再评价结合结构式专家咨询筛选出跌倒危险因素和OR值纳入模型, 建立logistic回归综合评估模型。结果 模型最终纳入32个指标: 年龄、跌倒史、运动、使用助行器、步态异常、平衡异常、睡眠障碍、认知障碍、衰弱、尿/便失禁、头晕眩晕、视力障碍、听力障碍、下肢关节炎、脑卒中史、糖尿病、体位性低血压、帕金森、痴呆、贫血、心律失常、抑郁、足部问题、抗精神病药、抗抑郁药、催眠镇静类药物、抗癫痫药、阿片类药物、髓袢利尿剂、强心苷类、降糖药、泻药。结论 本研究以Meta分析为基础, 结合专家意见建立了中国老年人跌倒风险评估模型, 有效避免了样本量偏少的问题, 模型基于循证医学依据, 为跌倒高危人群筛查与干预实施提供了依据和指导。)

Objective To investigate the status and influencing factors of falls among the elderly in a community in Beijing, and provide reference for the prevention of falls in community. Methods Convenience sampling method was used to investigate 509 elderly residents over 60 years old in a community in Beijing, and logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of falls. Results The fall rate of the elderly in the community of Beijing was 26. 72%(136/509). Logistic regression results showed that age(OR=1. 93), abnormal gait(OR=6. 44), abnormal balance(OR=11. 20), urinary/stool incontinence(OR=4. 57), dizziness and vertigo(OR-2. 27), visual impairment(OR=1. 97), history of stroke(OR=3. 02) and arrhythmia(OR=2. 77) were the risk factors for falling of the elderly in the community. Conclusion The fall rate of the elderly in this community in Beijing is high, so the elderly with advanced age, abnormal gait, abnormal balance, urinary/fecal incontinence, dizziness, dizziness, visual impairment, stroke history, arrhythmia should be strengthened to reduce the fall rate of the elderly and the adverse consequences of falling, improve the quality of life of the elderly. (目的 调查北京社区老年人跌倒现状, 并探讨其影响因素, 为社区跌倒预防工作提供参考依据。方法 采用便利抽样法, 对509名60岁以上的社区老年居民进行调查, 采用logistic回归分析跌倒的危险因素。结果 北京某社区老年人的跌倒率为26. 72%(136/509), Logistic回归结果显示, 年龄(OR=1. 93)、步态异常(OR=6. 44)、平衡异常(OR=11. 20)、尿/便失禁(OR=4. 57)、头晕眩晕(OR=2. 27)、视力障碍(OR=1. 97)、脑卒中史(OR=3. 02)、心律失常(OR=2. 77)是社区老年人跌倒的危险因素。结论 北京市该社区老年人跌倒率较高, 对于高龄、步态异常、平衡异常、尿/便失禁、头晕眩晕、视力障碍、有脑卒中史、心律失常的老年人应加强防护, 以降低老年人的跌倒率及跌倒后不良后果, 提高老年人的生活质量。)

Objective To explore the effects of nutritional intervention on the quality of life and nutritional status of patients with colorectal cancer treated with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods Fifty-six patients with colorectal cancer subjected to postoperative chemotherapy were selected. They were divided into nutritional intervention group (n=20) and control group (n=36). Blood test indices, PG-SGA scores, and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey scores were compared 4 weeks after the surgery. Results No significant difference in PG-SGA score was found between the nutritional group and the control group at admission (t=-0.347, P=0.730), but statistically significant difference was detected after 4 weeks (t=-2.708, P=0.009). At 4 weeks after the surgery, the serum levels of prealbumin, albumin, and hemoglobin were not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). Other indices of quality of life assessment (P < 0.05), except for the index of emotional function (P=0.083), were significantly different between the two groups, and the scores of the nutritional intervention group were higher than those of the control group. Conclusion Nutritional intervention can effectively improve the nutritional status and quality of life of patients with colorectal cancer treated with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.

As the basic task of natural language processing,entity relations classification plays a critical role in tasks such as knowledge graphs,intelligent question answering,semantic web construction and so on.This paper constructs the BERT-GRU-ATT model to classify Chinese entity relations.In order to eliminate the influence of Chinese word segmentation ambiguity on entity relations classification,the pre-training model BERT(bi-directional encoder representations from transformers) is introduced as the embedding layer to better obtain the context information of Chinese characters.Then gate recurrent unit(GRU) is used to capture the long-distance dependence of entities in sentences and self-attention mechanism(ATT) is used to strengthen the weight of characters that contribute significantly to relations classification,so as to obtain better results of entity relations classification.In order to enlarge the Chinese entity relations classification corpus,we translate the SemEval2010_Task8 English entity relations evaluation corpus into Chinese.The model achieves an F1 value of 75.46% on this translation corpus,which shows the effectiveness of the proposed model.In addition,the model achieves an F1 of 80.55%on the SemEval2010-Task8 English dataset,which proves that the model has certain generalization ability to English corpus.

Intelligent manufacturing has become the inevitable development trend of modern manufacturing; it is the main direction of the China Manufacturing 2025 plan and the only way for China’s manufacturing industry to develop from large to strong. Studying the breakthrough paths of intelligent manufacturing is significant for promoting the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry and accelerating industrial transformation and upgrading. It is also an important measure to practice the “four orientations”. In this article, we study the development practice of intelligent manufacturing in China, and summarize its basic characteristics from the dimensions of strategic layout, pilot demonstration, industrial agglomeration, and determination of development stages. Meanwhile, we investigate the problems existing in the development process. Currently, some of the standards, policies, technologies, talents, finance, and taxation for intelligent manufacturing can no longer meet the development requirements of the new era. Targeted measures focusing on policy standards, core technologies, and supporting elements are required for promoting the high-quality development of intelligent manufacturing during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Specifically, China should strengthen the top-level design to improve its policy and standards system, optimize strategic layout to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies, and improve the institutional guarantee and support of key elements.

Macroscopic and microscopic mechanical responses, damage behavior and microstructure evolution of NiCoCrFe high entropy alloys (HEAs) during finite deformation under quasi-static loading were investigated by experiments and crystal plasticity finite element method. The microstructure of NiCoCrFe before and after tensile deformation was characterized by electron backscattering diffraction technique(EBSD). The internal state variables of dislocation density and continuum damage factors were introduced into the CPFEM model by modifying the strengthening model and the flow criterion, and the NiCoCrFe related model parameters were determined by combining the stress-strain curves of the tensile test. The results show that the CPFEM model considering the dislocation density and damage can effectively describe the macroscopic and microscopic mechanical responses of NiCoCrFe. CPFEM model can reasonably predict the deformation shape and size of NiCoCrFe necking region, among which, the length of the necking region obtained in the experiment is 7% smaller than the predicted result, and the width of the necking region predicted by CPFEM is 23% larger than the experimental result. The texture evolution predicted by CPFEM model after NiCoCrFe tensile deformation is in good agreement with the results that characterized by EBSD, showing weak (100)//RD and strong (111)//RD fiber texture. In the analysis of the 3D micro- structure damage, the damage predicted by the current CPFEM model appears as an inter-granular damage mechanism at the grain boundary where stress and dislocation density are concentrated, and the damage gradually expands to the grain interior with the increase of deformation.

To realize nonreciprocal transmission, it is necessary to break the time-reversal symmetry of the transmission system, but it is very challenging to keep the linear polarized (LP) input and output unchanged in the free space transmission system. Magnetized semiconductor InSb can realize terahertz (THz) nonreciprocal transmission for the two conjugated photonic spin states, but it cannot realize efficient one-way transmission of LP state due to gyro-mirror symmetry. In this work, by introducing a pair of orthogonal uniaxial anisotropies from the meta-gratings on both sides of InSb, both the gyro-mirror and time-reversal symmetries are broken for the LP state, thus making this cascaded grating–InSb–grating structure serves as a high-performance isolator for the LP light. The experiment results indicate isolation of 50 dB at 0.4 THz for the same LP input and output under a weak biased magnetic field of 0.17 T. Moreover, we further illustrate the factors affecting the isolation bandwidth of the device, also demonstrated another broadband structure with the 10 dB isolation bandwidth from 0.2–0.7 THz, and the relative bandwidth achieves 110%. The mechanisms of THz nonreciprocal transmission and polarization manipulation proposed in this work will contribute to the development of efficient THz magneto-optical devices.

Adequate sampling is essential to an accurate pathologic evaluation of pancreatectomy specimens resected for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT). However, limited data are available for the association between the sampling and survival in these patients. We examined the association of the entire submission of the tumor (ESOT) and the entire submission of the pancreas (ESOP) with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), as well as their correlations with clinicopathologic features, for 627 patients with PDAC who received NAT and pancreaticoduodenectomy. We demonstrated that both ESOT and ESOP were associated with lower ypT, less frequent perineural invasion, and better tumor response (p < 0.05). ESOP was also associated with a smaller tumor size (p < 0.001), more lymph nodes (p < 0.001), a lower ypN stage (p < 0.001), better differentiation (p = 0.02), and less frequent lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.009). However, since ESOP and ESOT were primarily conducted for cases with no grossly identifiable tumor or minimal residual carcinoma in initial sections, potential bias cannot be excluded. Both ESOT and ESOP were associated with less frequent recurrence/metastasis and better DFS and OS (p < 0.05) in the overall study population. ESOP was associated with better DFS and better OS in patients with ypT0/ypT1 or ypN0 tumors and better OS in patients with complete or near-complete response (p < 0.05). ESOT was associated with better OS in patients with ypT0/ypT1 or ypN0 tumors (p < 0.05). Both ESOT and ESOP were independent prognostic factors for OS according to multivariate survival analyses. Therefore, accurate pathologic evaluation using ESOP and ESOT is associated with the prognosis in PDAC patients with complete or near-complete pathologic response and ypT0/ypT1 tumor after NAT.

In order to solve the problems of high data loss rate, long time-consuming resource integration, large amount of redundant data, and incomplete results of resource integration in traditional methods, a design method of distance education resource integration model from the perspective of comparative education is proposed. Association rules are used to mine resources and get effective resources in the context of comparative pedagogy, with the goal of increasing the impact of resource integration. Then, using a three-tier architecture, a remote education resource integration model is created, and the mining results are combined through the application layer, resource encryption layer, and multicast communication layer to achieve distance education resource integration. Simulation results show that the method of this article has low data loss rate, short resource integration time, less redundant data, and comprehensive integration results, which provides an effective technical support for the development of education.

Since February 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the world, greatly affecting the global economic situation and peoples lifestyles. Mass consumption has shifted from offline to online, suggesting a permanent trend and making e-commerce one of the few industries to go against the global trend of economic downturn. With a continuous increase in online consumption, the supporting logistics ecosystem has also evolved. By analyzing and comparing the development status of e-commerce logistics industries before and after the initial impact of COVID-19, this paper finds that after the initial impact of COVID-19, China's e-commerce logistics ecosystems are more stable, and an e-commerce logistics ecosystem in China, consisting of a guiding layer, a backbone layer, a filling layer, a basic layer and a bearing layer, has taken shape, providing strong support for the continued development of e-commerce in China.

Varicella and herpes zoster are mild symptoms-associated diseases caused by varicella–zoster virus (VZV). They often cause severe complications (disseminated zoster), leading to death when diagnoses and treatment are delayed. However, most commercial VZV diagnostic tests have low sensitivity, and the most sensitive tests are unevenly available worldwide. Here, we developed and validated a highly sensitive VZV diagnostic kit based on the chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) approach. VZV-glycoprotein E (gE) was used to develop a CLIA diagnostic approach for detecting VZV-specific IgA, IgG, and IgM. The kit was tested with 62 blood samples from 29 VZV-patients classified by standard ELISA into true-positive and equivocal groups and 453 blood samples from VZV-negative individuals. The diagnostic accuracy of the CLIA kit was evaluated by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The relationships of immunoglobulin-isotype levels between the two groups and with patient age ranges were analyzed. Overall, the developed CLIA-based diagnostic kit demonstrated the detection of VZV-specific immunoglobulin titers depending on sample dilution. From the ELISA-based true-positive patient samples, the diagnostic approach showed sensitivities of 95.2%, 95.2%, and 97.6% and specificities of 98.0%, 100%, and 98.9% for the detection of VZV-gE-specific IgA, IgG, and IgM, respectively. Combining IgM to IgG and IgA detection improved diagnostic accuracy. Comparative analyses on diagnosing patients with equivocal results displaying very low immunoglobulin titers revealed that the CLIA-based diagnostic approach is overall more sensitive than ELISA. In the presence of typical VZV symptoms, CLIA-based detection of high titer of IgM and low titer of IgA/IgG suggested the equivocal patients experienced primary VZV infection. Furthermore, while no difference in IgA/IgG level was found regarding patient age, IgM level was significantly higher in young adults. The CLIA approach-based detection kit for diagnosing VZV-gE-specific IgA, IgG, and IgM is simple, suitable for high-throughput routine analysis situations, and provides enhanced specificity compared to ELISA.

Among the variety of post and core materials, fiber post is getting more and more popular because of its excellent physical and mechanical characters, superior aesthetics properties. However, it also has some limitations. In the restoration of damaged teeth, there should be more dentin ferrule, and the different designs of ferrule affect the reten⁃ tion, stability and root fracture resistance of teeth restored with fiber posts. The purpose of this article is to give a litera⁃ ture review of the effect of ferrule on teeth restored with fiber posts.

BackgroundAt present, the determination of 238U activity in natural samples mainly relies on HPGe spectrometer, but it has application limitation and high cost.PurposeThis study aims to measure the activity of 238U by the new detector at room temperature, providing a lower cost, more convenient and efficient technical means for on-site activity measurement and natural sample analysis.MethodsThe original spectrum data of natural samples measured by the new CeBr3 detector were analyzed. The feasibility of extracting energy peak of 1 001 keV for 238U content calculation from the measured U-Ra gamma spectrum was investigated. Influence of 1 001 keV and 969 keV peeks and calculation of the peak area were explored by using the measured U-Th gamma spectrum. Finally, the measurement results of 1 001 keV energy peek obtained by using CeBr3 detector were compared with those of high resolution HPGe semiconductor detector to evaluate the effectiveness of this method.ResultsThe comparison results show that the CeBr3 detector can be used to distinguish 1 001 keV (238U) energy peek from 969 keV (228Ac) energy peek in the measured spectrum of natural samples, and the activity measurement result of 238U using 1 001 keV energy peek is consistent with HPGe spectrometer.ConclusionsThe new CeBr3 detector is applicable to measuring the activity of 238U in natural samples at room temperature.