Does Exam-targeted Training Help Village Doctors Pass the Certified (Assistant) Physician Exam and Improve Their Practical Skills? A Cross-sectional Analysis of Village Doctors\u27 Perspectives in Changzhou in Eastern China

Background Quality of health care needs to be improved in rural China. The Chinese government, based on the 1999 Law on Physicians, started implementing the Rural Doctor Practice Regulation in 2004 to increase the percentage of certified physicians among village doctors. Special exam-targeted training for rural doctors therefore was launched as a national initiative. This study examined these rural doctors’ perceptions of whether that training helps them pass the exam and whether it improves their skills. Methods Three counties were selected from the 4 counties in Changzhou City in eastern China, and 844 village doctors were surveyed by a questionnaire in July 2012. Chi-square test and Fisher exact test were used to identify differences of attitudes about the exam and training between the rural doctors and certified (assistant) doctors. Longitudinal annual statistics (1980–2014) of village doctors were further analyzed. Results Eight hundred and forty-four village doctors were asked to participate, and 837 (99.17%) responded. Only 14.93% of the respondents had received physician (assistant) certification. Only 49.45% of the village doctors thought that the areas tested by the certification exam were closely related to the healthcare needs of rural populations. The majority (86.19%) felt that the training program was “very helpful” or “helpful” for preparing for the exam. More than half the village doctors (61.46%) attended the “weekly school”. The village doctors considered the most effective method of learning was “continuous training (40.36%)” . The majority of the rural doctors (89.91%) said they would be willing to participate in the training and 96.87% stated that they could afford to pay up to 2000 yuan for it. Conclusions The majority of village doctors in Changzhou City perceived that neither the certification exam nor the training for it are closely related to the actual healthcare needs of rural residents. Policies and programs should focus on providing exam-preparation training for selected rural doctors, reducing training expenditures, and utilizing web-based methods. The training focused on rural practice should be provided to all village doctors, even certified physicians. The government should also adjust the local licensing requirements to attract and recruit new village doctors

Probabilistic Single-Valued (Interval) Neutrosophic Hesitant Fuzzy Set and Its Application in Multi-Attribute Decision Making

The uncertainty and concurrence of randomness are considered when many practical problems are dealt with. To describe the aleatory uncertainty and imprecision in a neutrosophic environment and prevent the obliteration of more data, the concept of the probabilistic single-valued (interval) neutrosophic hesitant fuzzy set is introduced

A prediction model of specific productivity index using least square support vector machine method

In the design of oilfield development plans, specific productivity index plays a vital role. Especially for offshore oilfields, affected by development costs and time limits, there are shortcomings of shorter test time and fewer test sampling points. Therefore, it is very necessary to predict specific productivity index. In this study, a prediction model of the specific productivity index is established by combining the principle of least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) with the calculation method of the specific productivity index. The model uses logging parameters, crude oil experimental parameters and the specific productivity index of a large number of test well samples as input and output items respectively, and finally predicts the specific productivity index of non-test wells. It reduces the errors caused by short training time, randomness of training results and insufficient learning. A large number of sample data from the Huanghekou Sag in Bohai Oilfield were used to verify the prediction model. Comparing the specific productivity index prediction results of LS-SVM and artificial neural networks (ANNs) with actual well data respectively, the LS-SVM model has a better fitting effect, with an error of only 3.2%, which is 12.1% lower than ANNs. This study can better reflect the impact of different factors on specific productivity index, and it has important guiding significance for the evaluation of offshore oilfield productivity.Cited as: Wu, C., Wang, S., Yuan, J., Li, C., Zhang, Q. A prediction model of specific productivity index using least square support vector machine method. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2020, 4(4): 460-467, doi: 10.46690/ager.2020.04.1

Differential and Prognostic Significance of HOXB7 in Gliomas

Diffuse glioma is the most common primary tumor of the central nervous system. The prognosis of the individual tumor is heavily dependent on its grade and subtype. Homeobox B7 (HOXB7), a member of the homeobox family, is abnormally overexpressed in a variety of tumors. However, its function in glioma is unclear. In this study, HOXB7 mRNA and protein expression levels were analyzed in 401 gliomas from the CGGA RNA-seq database (325 cases) and our hospital (76 cases). HOXB7 expression, at both mRNA and protein levels, were upregulated in glioblastoma (GBM) and isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) wild-type glioma tissues. Kaplan–Meier with log-rank test showed that patients with high HOXB7 expression had a poor prognosis (p < 0.0001). Moreover, HOXB7 protein was deleted in 90.9% (20/22) of oligodendrogliomas and 13.0% (3/23) of astrocytomas. The sensitivity and specificity of HOXB7 protein deletion in oligodendroglioma were 90.9% (20/22) and 87.0% (20/23), respectively. To verify the reliability of using HOXB7 in differentiating oligodendroglioma, we used 1p/19q fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) testing as a positive control. The Cohen’s kappa coefficient of HOXB7 immunohistochemistry staining and 1p/19q FISH testing was 0.778 (95% CI: 0.594–0.962, p < 0.001). In conclusion, HOXB7 is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in all grade gliomas. Additionally, HOXB7 is also a highly sensitive and specific indicator to differentiate oligodendroglioma from astrocytoma

Data driven three-dimensional temperature and salinity anomaly reconstruction of the northwest Pacific Ocean

By virtue of the rapid development of ocean observation technologies, tens of petabytes of data archives have been recorded, among which, the largest portion are those derived from the orbital satellites, embodying the character of ocean surface. Nevertheless, the insufficiency of information below the subsurface restricts the utilization of these data and the understanding of ocean dynamics. To circumvent these difficulties, we present the spatially three-dimensional reconstruction of ocean hydrographic profiles at depth based on the satellites and in-situ measurement data. In this manuscript, long short-term memory network (LSTM) and Gaussian process regression (GPR) methods are invoked to predict the temperature and salinity profiles in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and to improve computational and storage efficiency, the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method is subtly incorporated into these two models. LSTM and GPR show satisfactory results, with the root mean square error (RMSE) of temperature is less than 1.45, and the RMSE of salinity is less than 0.19. The incorporation of the POD method substantially accelerates efficiency, particularly in the LSTM model, which improves 7.5-fold without significant accuracy loss. The sensitivity of different sea surface parameters on the reconstructed profiles reveals that sea surface height anomaly and latitude significantly influence the reconstruction of temperature anomaly (TA) and salinity anomaly (SA) profiles. Besides, sea surface salinity and sea surface temperature anomalies can improve the model's estimation ability for the upper TAs and SAs, respectively. The contribution of monthly climatology to temperature and salinity profile estimation is also explored in this paper. It is shown that adding monthly mean climatology to the input of the model can achieve more accurate estimates

Comparison of macular structural and vascular changes in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and primary open angle glaucoma: a cross-sectional study.

AIMS: To compare macular structure and vasculature between neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) using optical coherence tomography angiography. METHODS: NMOSD patients (n=124) with/without a history of optic neuritis (ON) (NMO+ON: 113 eyes; NMO-ON: 95 eyes), glaucomatous patients (n=102) with early/advanced glaucoma (G-E: 74 eyes; G-A: 50 eyes) and healthy controls (n=62; 90 eyes) were imaged. The main outcome measures were macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL) thickness, vessel density (VD) and perfusion density (PD) in the superficial capillary plexus, and diagnostic capabilities of the parameters as calculated by area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: Significant losses in GC-IPL, VD and PD were detected in both patients with NMOSD and POAG. With matched losses in the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer, NMOSD group showed significant thinning of GC-IPL in the nasal-superior quadrant, whereas in POAG group, significant thinning was observed in the inferior and temporal-inferior quadrants. GC-IPL thinning was more prominent in the superior, nasal-superior and nasal-inferior quadrants in NMO+ON eyes. In G-A eyes, significant GC-IPL thinning was seen in the temporal-inferior quadrant. The specific structural parameters combining VD and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) indices showed the best diagnostic accuracies. The FAZ area in eyes with NMOSD was significantly smaller than the eyes of healthy controls and POAG. CONCLUSION: NMOSD and POAG have specific patterns of macular structural and vascular changes associated with pathophysiology. Our results indicate that FAZ could be a sensitive biomarker of macular changes in NMOSD

Application of Configuration Software in Process Control Course Teaching

According to the characteristics of configuration software and process control course, the configuration software is applied to teaching practice of process control. Configuration software can realize the mathematical model and the design of the digital controller of the controlled object in the process control, and can build different process control system. In the teaching practice of process control, the combination of theory and simulation practice not only makes the boring process control theory more vivid and helps students to understand and remember the theoretical knowledge easily, but also improves the students’ learning interest, efficiency and enthusiasm. Practices prove that this method is an effective way to teach process control system. And it also provides a new idea for such kind of control courses