Evaluation of an Improved Technique for Geosynthetic-Reinforced and Pile-Supported Embankment

With a large number of applications of conventional technique for geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported (GRPS) embankment (called CT embankment), many deficiencies have been exposed. In view of the deficiencies, an improved technique, fixed-geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported embankment (called FGT embankment), is developed. To investigate the performance of the FGT embankment, the comparison analyses and parametric studies are conducted by Finite Element Method (FEM). The influencing factors investigated include elastic modulus of soil, tensile stiffness of geosynthetics, pile length, pile spacing, and pile elastic modulus. In addition, the cost evaluation for the FGT embankment and CT embankment is also made. The results show that the FGT embankment can significantly reduce the settlement and differential settlement, enhance the stability, and provide an economical and effective measure for the construction of high embankment at the bridge approach

APPLIED STUDY OF BIRCH PULP BLEACHING USING DIMETHYLDIOXIRANE TO OBTAIN ACETATE-GRADE PULP

As a pulp bleaching agent, dimethyldioxirane (DMD) is effective and selective. In this study, it was employed as a delignifying agent or as an activating agent for hydrogen peroxide treatment in bleaching acetate-grade pulp. Brightness, kappa number, degree of polymerization (DP), and alpha-cellulose content were evaluated to determine the optimal charges of DMD: 2.5% AO, and 4% HSO5-, respectively. Results from the totally chlorine-free (TCF) sequences MEQMPA, MEpQMPA, and OQMPA suggested that DMD is both effective and selective as a delignifying agent but not as a brightening agent as compared to oxygen. And in a long sequence for the bleaching of dissolving pulp, acid treatment can be used in two approaches: to remove the metal ions without washing before the chelation stage, and to reduce hemicellulose and ash in the final stage

The infectivity and pathogenicity of a foot-and-mouth disease virus persistent infection strain from oesophageal-pharyngeal fluid of a Chinese cattle in 2010

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Foot-and mouth disease (FMD) is an acute, febrile, and contagious vesicular disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals. Some animals may become persistent infected carriers when they contact FMD virus (FMDV), and persistent infected animals are a dangerous factor to cause FMD outbreak.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>300 OP (oesophageal-pharyngeal) fluid samples were collected from cattle without clinic symptom after one month FMD circulated in 2010 in China. A FMDV strain was isolated when a positive OP sample was passed in BHK21 cell line. The strain, named O/CHN/2010/33-OP, was detected to be O/Myanmar/1998 lineage with VP1 DNA sequence comparison. In order to testify its infectivity, two cattle were challenged with OP fluid and three pigs were put into the same pen for direct contact infection. The result showed that one of the cattle and one of the pigs appeared FMD clinic symptoms respectively. Furthermore, two cattle (three pigs were also put into the same pen for direct contact infection) and three pigs were inoculated with O/CHN/2010/33-OP cell passaged strain. The result showed that one of the challenged pigs appeared FMD clinic symptoms. Two cattle and three pigs in the same pen did not appeared FMD clinic symptoms, but the sera antibody and their OP fluid of two cattle were positive. Meanwhile, the spinal cords of three pigs in the same pen with two cattle were positive detected with multiplex- RT-PCR.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The persistent infection strain O/CHN/2010/33-OP has infectivity and pathogenicity to cattle and pigs, and infected cattle may transmit the virus to pigs although its virulence was lower than the circulated strain O/CHN/Mya98/2010.</p

Association of choroidal thickness with early stages of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes

AIM: To assess the correlation between choroidal thickness (CT) and the early stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS: We divided 83 diabetic patients (51-80 years of age; 50 females) into non diabetic retinopathy group (NDR) and mild/moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) group, and compared them with 26 non-diabetic control subjects (51-78 years of age; 16 females). Subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and parafoveal choroidal thickness (PFCT) were measured using enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT). Ocular health status, disease duration, body mass index, and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) were recorded. RESULTS: The mean ages of the NDR, NPDR, and control groups were 68.0±6.9y, 67.8±6.4y, and 65.1±6.3y, respectively (P=0.17). Pearson correlation of the right and left eyes for the control subjects was 0.95 and for the NDR subjects was 0.93. SFCT for the right eyes of the controls was 252.77± 41.10 μm, which was significantly thicker than that of the right eyes in NDR group (221.51±46.56 μm) and the worse eyes of the NPDR group (207.18±61.87 μm; ANOVA, P<0.01). In the diabetic patients pooled together, age was the only variable significantly associated with SFCT (multiple linear regression analysis, P=0.01). CONCLUSION: CT decreased significantly in the NDR and mild/moderate NPDR eyes compared with the control eyes. Age is significantly associated with SFCT in the diabetic patients. Diabetic choroidopathy may be present before clinical retinopathy

Tumor volume of resectable gastric adenocarcinoma on multidetector computed tomography: association with N categories

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the gross tumor volume of resectable gastric adenocarcinoma on multidetector computed tomography could predict the presence of regional lymph node metastasis and could determine N categories. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 202 consecutive patients with gastric adenocarcinoma who had undergone gastrectomy 1 week after contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography were retrospectively identified. The gross tumor volume was evaluated on multidetector computed tomography images. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine whether the gross tumor volume could predict regional lymph node metastasis, and the Mann-Whitney U test was performed to compare the gross tumor volume among N categories. Additionally, a receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to identify the accuracy of the gross tumor volume in differentiating N categories. RESULTS: The gross tumor volume could predict regional lymph node metastasis (

Non-vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants and Cognitive Impairment in Atrial Fibrillation: Insights From the Meta-Analysis of Over 90,000 Patients of Randomized Controlled Trials and Real-World Studies

Background: The relationship between the use of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) and the impairment of cognition in atrial fibrillation (AF) remains unknown.Methods: A comprehensive database search of Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library databases, and ClinicalTrials.gov Website was performed for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting cognitive impairment events and observational nationwide database studies reporting adjusted hazard ratio (HR) in AF patients with NOACs. The primacy outcome was a composite of any cognitive impairment. Summary of HRs and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated using the fixed- and random-effects models. Subgroup analyses were undertaken according to the individual NOACs, study types, and duration of follow-up.Results: Finally, eight studies including 97,595 patients (77,643 patients in 6 RCTs and 19,952 patients in 2 observational database studies) met the inclusion criteria, among which 55,337 (56.7%) patients were receiving NOACs and 42,258 (43.3%) patients were receiving vitamin K Antagonists (VKAs) or acetylsalicylic acid. The results showed a borderline significant association between the use of NOACs and the lower risk of cognitive impairment when compared with VKAs/ acetylsalicylic acid (HR: 0.80, 95%CI: 0.63–0.98 for fixed-effects model; HR: 0.77; 95%CI: 0.53–1.01 for random-effects model), with no significant heterogeneity between the studies (I2 = 39.4%, P = 0.12). The results were consistent across the key subgroups (Pinteraction &gt; 0.05 for each).Conclusions: The results indicated that the use of NOACs might lower the tendency on the risk of cognitive impairment in comparison to VKAs/acetylsalicylic acid, and further RCTs and real-world studies are required on an urgent basis to obtain a robust result