Validation of the chinese version of the oral health impact profile for TMDs (OHIP- TMDs-C)

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the the Chinese version of the Oral Health Impact Profile for TMDs (OHIP-TMDs-C). Study Design: The OHIP-TMDs was initially translated and cross-culturally adapted to Chinese following international guidelines; then subsequently validated for the psychometric characteristics of reliability and validity. In total, 156 participants with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) were recruited to complete the questionnaire. The reliability of the OHIP-TMDs-C was evaluated using internal consistency and test-retest methods. The validity of the OHIP-TMDs-C was analysed by construct validity and convergent validity. Construct validity was determined based on factor analysis, and convergent validity by analyzing the correlation between OHIP-TMDs-C subscale scores and the global rating of oral health question. Results: Cronbach’s alpha value (internal reliability) for the total OHIP-TMDs-C score was 0.917 and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) value (test–retest reliability) was 0.899. Construct validity was determined by factor analysis, extracting five factors, accounting for 78.6% of the variance. All items had factor loadings above 0.40. In terms of convergent validity, the OHIP-TMDs-C subscale was significant correlated to the global oral health rating. Conclusions: The results suggest that the OHIP-TMDs-C has good reliability and validity and thus may be used as a valuable instrument for patients with TMDs in China

Effects of Severe Water Stress on Maize Growth Processes in the Field

In this study, we investigated the effects of water stress on the growth and yield of summer maize (Zea mays L.) over four phenological stages: Seedling, jointing, heading, and grain-filling. Water stress treatments were applied during each of these four stages in a water-controlled field in the Guanzhong Plain, China between 2013 and 2016. We found that severe water stress during the seedling stage had a greater effect on the growth and development of maize than stress applied during the other three stages. Water stress led to lower leaf area index (LAI) and biomass owing to reduced intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (IPAR) and radiation-use efficiency (RUE). These effects extended to the reproductive stage and eventually reduced the unit kernel weight and yield. In addition, the chlorophyll content in the leaf remained lower, even though irrigation was applied partially or fully after the seedling stage. Severe and prolonged water stress in maize plants during the seedling stage may damage the structure of the photosynthetic membrane, resulting in lower chlorophyll content, and therefore RUE, than those in the plants that did not experience water stress at the seedling stage. Maize plants with such damage did not show a meaningful recovery even when irrigation levels during the rest of the growth period were the same as those applied to the plants not subjected to water stress. The results of our field experiments suggest that an unrecoverable yield loss could occur if summer maize were exposed to severe and extended water stress events during the seedling stage

Universal expansions of scattering amplitudes for gravitons, gluons and Goldstone particles

Tree-level scattering amplitudes for gravitons, gluons and Goldstone particles in any dimensions are strongly constrained by basic principles, and they are intimately related to each other via various relations. We study two types of "universal expansions" with respect to gauge bosons and Goldstone bosons: the former express tree amplitudes in Einstein gravity (Yang-Mills) as linear combinations of single-trace Einstein-Yang-Mills (Yang-Mills-$\phi^3$) amplitudes with coefficients given by Lorentz products of polarizations and momenta; the latter express tree amplitudes in non-linear sigma model, (Dirac-)Born-Infeld and a special Galileon theory, as linear combinations of single-trace mixed amplitudes with particles of lower "degree of Adler's zero" and coefficients given by products of Mandelstam variables. We trace the origin of gauge-theory expansions to the powerful uniqueness theorem based on gauge invariance, and expansions in effective field theories can be derived from gauge-theory ones via a special dimension reduction.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Prognostic Outcomes and Risk Factors for Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma and Venous Tumor Thrombus after Radical Nephrectomy and Thrombectomy: The Prognostic Significance of Venous Tumor Thrombus Level.

IntroductionTo evaluate the prognostic outcomes and risk factors for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients with venous tumor thrombus in China.Materials and methodsWe reviewed the clinical information of 169 patients who underwent radical nephrectomy and thrombectomy. Overall and cancer-specific survival rates were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to investigate the potential prognostic factors.ResultsThe median survival time was 63 months. The five-year overall survival and cancer-specific survival rate were 53.6% and 54.4% for all patients. For all patients, significant survival difference was only observed between early (below hepatic vein) and advanced (above hepatic vein) tumor thrombus. However, significant differences existed between both RV/IVC and early/advanced tumor thrombus groups in N0M0 patients. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that higher tumor thrombus level (p = 0.016, RR = 1.58), N (p = 0.013, RR = 2.60), and M (p < 0.001, RR = 4.14) stages and adrenal gland invasion (p = 0.001, RR = 4.91) were the most significant negative prognostic predictors.ConclusionsIn this study, we reported most cases of RCC patients with venous extension in China. We proved that patients with RCC and venous tumor thrombus may have relative promising long-term survival rate, especially those with early tumor thrombus