The prevalence of insomnia in the general population in China: A meta-analysis

This is the first meta-analysis of the pooled prevalence of insomnia in the general population of China. A systematic literature search was conducted via the following databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE and Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Interne (CNKI), WanFang Data and SinoMed). Statistical analyses were performed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis program. A total of 17 studies with 115,988 participants met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. The pooled prevalence of insomnia in China was 15.0% (95% Confidence interval [CI]: 12.1%-18.5%). No significant difference was found in the prevalence between genders or across time period. The pooled prevalence of insomnia in population with a mean age of 43.7 years and older (11.6%; 95% CI: 7.5%-17.6%) was significantly lower than in those with a mean age younger than 43.7 years (20.4%; 95% CI: 14.2%-28.2%). The prevalence of insomnia was significantly affected by the type of assessment tools (Q = 14.1, P = 0.001). The general population prevalence of insomnia in China is lower than those reported in Western countries but similar to those in Asian countries. Younger Chinese adults appear to suffer from more insomnia than older adults

Photoelectrochemical cells based on inherently conducting polymers

This review of photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) based on inherently conducting polymers (ICPs) deals with the mechanisms of operation and the various factors that influence the overall efficiency of PECs. The factors addressed include ICP composition and oxidation state, the use of nanostructured surfaces and interfaces, and the PEC electrolyte and redox mediator

Chromatic equivalence classes of some families of complete tripartite graphs

We obtain new necessary conditions on a graph which shares the same chromatic polynomial as that of the complete tripartite graph Km,n,r. Using these, we establish the chromatic equivalence classes for K1,n,n+1 (where n ≥ 2). This gives a partial solution to a question raised earlier by the authors. With the same technique, we further show that Kn−3,n,n+1 is chromatically unique if n ≥ 5. In the more general situation, we show that if 2 ≤ m ≤ n, then Km,n,n+1 is chromatically unique if n is sufficiently large

Image-guided Radiotherapy to Manage Respiratory Motion: Lung and Liver.

Organ motion as a result of respiratory and cardiac motion poses significant challenges for the accurate delivery of radiotherapy to both the thorax and the upper abdomen. Modern imaging techniques during radiotherapy simulation and delivery now permit better quantification of organ motion, which in turn reduces tumour and organ at risk position uncertainty. These imaging advances, coupled with respiratory correlated radiotherapy delivery techniques, have led to the development of a range of approaches to manage respiratory motion. This review summarises the key strategies of image-guided respiratory motion management with a focus on lung and liver radiotherapy

Eigenvector Expansion and Petermann Factor for Ohmically Damped Oscillators

Correlation functions $C(t) \sim$ in ohmically damped systems such as coupled harmonic oscillators or optical resonators can be expressed as a single sum over modes $j$ (which are not power-orthogonal), with each term multiplied by the Petermann factor (PF) $C_j$, leading to "excess noise" when $|C_j| > 1$. It is shown that $|C_j| > 1$ is common rather than exceptional, that $|C_j|$ can be large even for weak damping, and that the PF appears in other processes as well: for example, a time-independent perturbation \sim\ep leads to a frequency shift \sim \ep C_j. The coalescence of $J$ ($>1$) eigenvectors gives rise to a critical point, which exhibits "giant excess noise" ($C_j \to \infty$). At critical points, the divergent parts of $J$ contributions to $C(t)$ cancel, while time-independent perturbations lead to non-analytic shifts \sim \ep^{1/J}.Comment: REVTeX4, 14 pages, 4 figures. v2: final, 20 single-col. pages, 2 figures. Streamlined with emphasis on physics over formalism; rewrote Section V E so that it refers to time-dependent (instead of non-equilibrium) effect

Parents’ Perceptions of the Physical Health Outcomes of Young People Diagnosed with First Episode Psychosis

This study explores parents’ perceptions of their son/daughter’s physical health needs following a first episode psychosis diagnosis and commencement on antipsychotic medication. The research process was guided by grounded theory methodology and data were collected using semi-structure interviews with 16 parents. Four categories were identified. Participants described the importance, challenges and strategies for their son/daughter to maintain their physical health, and the need to improve young people’s health literacy, particularly in areas of physical health, diet and lifestyle. These findings will assist health professionals to provide parents with information to better support their son/daughter to maintain their physical health

Modelling and optimal control of blood glucose levels in the human body

Regulating the blood glucose level is a challenging control problem for the human body. Abnormal blood glucose levels can cause serious health problems over time, including diabetes. Although several mathematical models have been proposed to describe the dynamics of glucose-insulin interaction, none of them have been universally adopted by the research community. In this paper, we consider a dynamic model of the blood glucose regulatory system originally proposed by Liu and Tang in 2008. This model consists of eight state variables naturally divided into three subsystems: the glucagon and insulin transition subsystem, the receptor binding subsystem and the glucosesubsystem. The model contains 36 model parameters, many of which are unknown and difficult to determine accurately. We formulate an optimal parameter selection problem in which optimal values for the model parameters must be selected so that the resulting model best its given experimental data.We demonstrate that this optimal parameter selection problem can be solved readily using the optimal control software MISER 3.3. Using this approach, significant improvements can be made in matching the model to the experimental data. We also investigate the sensitivity of the resulting optimizedmodel with respect to the insulin release rate. Finally, we use MISER 3.3 to determine optimal open loop controls for the optimized model

Scaling, Propagation, and Kinetic Roughening of Flame Fronts in Random Media

We introduce a model of two coupled reaction-diffusion equations to describe the dynamics and propagation of flame fronts in random media. The model incorporates heat diffusion, its dissipation, and its production through coupling to the background reactant density. We first show analytically and numerically that there is a finite critical value of the background density, below which the front associated with the temperature field stops propagating. The critical exponents associated with this transition are shown to be consistent with mean field theory of percolation. Second, we study the kinetic roughening associated with a moving planar flame front above the critical density. By numerically calculating the time dependent width and equal time height correlation function of the front, we demonstrate that the roughening process belongs to the universality class of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interface equation. Finally, we show how this interface equation can be analytically derived from our model in the limit of almost uniform background density.Comment: Standard LaTeX, no figures, 29 pages; (to appear in J. Stat. Phys. vol.81, 1995). Complete file available at http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/tft/tft.html or anonymous ftp at ftp://rock.helsinki.fi/pub/preprints/tft