Prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae: A cause for community‑acquired infection among pediatric populaztion

Background: Atypical pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a leading cause of mortality among the pediatric age group.Objectives: Our study was designed to know the prevalence of M. pneumoniae in children with community‑acquired pneumonia and the involvement in the cytoadherence to the respiratory epithelium by M. pneumoniae using electron microscopy and immuno‑gold labeling technique.Materials and Methods: A total of 152 children of 1 month to 12 years of age of both sexes attending Hebei Provincial People’s Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei with diagnosed pneumonia were included in the study.Results: Out of 152 children 84 (55.3%) were males, and 68 (44.7%) were females. The mean age of the patients in the control group (50 patients) was 18.5 ± 3 months with 31 (62%) males and 19 (38%) females. IgM antibodies against M. pneumoniae were positive in 84 (55.3%) males and 68 (44.7%) females. Out of 50 patients 9 (18%) were found to positive for IgM M. pneumoniae antibodies of which four (44.4%) males and 5 (55.5%) females were positive. Our study observed that the gold particles were clustered on the filamentous extension of the tip of the cells. Out of 152 serum samples subjected to particle agglutination assay 138 (90.7%) were positive 1:320 titer, 9 were >1:80 and 3 showed titer was >1:40.Conclusion: We suggest that clinicians should consider empirical therapy of broad spectrum antibiotics therapy to cover these atypical pathogens to reduce the severity before obtaining the serological results. From our study, we also suggest electron microscopic and biochemical studies for better diagnosis of these pathogens.Key words: Atypical, community‑acquired pneumonia, electron microscope, gold labelin

Identification of sugarcane interspecies hybrids with RAPDs

Identification of “Saccharum officinarum × Erianthus fulvus” F1 hybrids was performed with random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Of 280 RAPD primers used, two primers, OPA-19 and OPN-11, were found to be the most suitable for identification of the hybrids. And the hybrids facticitycheck-out rate was 70.6 and 68.3%, respectively

Interference in transport through double barriers in interacting quantum wires

We investigate interference effects of the backscattering current through a double-barrier structure in an interacting quantum wire attached to noninteracting leads. Depending on the interaction strength and the location of the barriers, the backscattering current exhibits different oscillation and scaling characteristics with the applied voltage in the strong and weak interaction cases. However, in both cases, the oscillation behaviors of the backscattering current are mainly determined by the quantum mechanical interference due to the existence of the double barriers.Comment: 6 pages, 3 fig

Adaptive Backstepping Fuzzy Control Based on Type-2 Fuzzy System

A novel indirect adaptive backstepping control approach based on type-2 fuzzy system is developed for a class of nonlinear systems. This approach adopts type-2 fuzzy system instead of type-1 fuzzy system to approximate the unknown functions. With type-reduction, the type-2 fuzzy system is replaced by the average of two type-1 fuzzy systems. Ultimately, the adaptive laws, by means of backstepping design technique, will be developed to adjust the parameters to attenuate the approximation error and external disturbance. According to stability theorem, it is proved that the proposed Type-2 Adaptive Backstepping Fuzzy Control (T2ABFC) approach can guarantee global stability of closed-loop system and ensure all the signals bounded. Compared with existing Type-1 Adaptive Backstepping Fuzzy Control (T1ABFC), as the advantages of handling numerical and linguistic uncertainties, T2ABFC has the potential to produce better performances in many respects, such as stability and resistance to disturbances. Finally, a biological simulation example is provided to illustrate the feasibility of control scheme proposed in this paper

Prediction of preterm birth with and without preeclampsia using mid-pregnancy immune and growth-related molecular factors and maternal characteristics.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate if mid-pregnancy immune and growth-related molecular factors predict preterm birth (PTB) with and without (±) preeclampsia. STUDY DESIGN:Included were 400 women with singleton deliveries in California in 2009-2010 (200 PTB and 200 term) divided into training and testing samples at a 2:1 ratio. Sixty-three markers were tested in 15-20 serum samples using multiplex technology. Linear discriminate analysis was used to create a discriminate function. Model performance was assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). RESULTS:Twenty-five serum biomarkers along with maternal age <34 years and poverty status identified >80% of women with PTB ± preeclampsia with best performance in women with preterm preeclampsia (AUC = 0.889, 95% confidence interval (0.822-0.959) training; 0.883 (0.804-0.963) testing). CONCLUSION:Together with maternal age and poverty status, mid-pregnancy immune and growth factors reliably identified most women who went on to have a PTB ± preeclampsia

Modeling, Oscillation Analysis and Distributed Stabilization Control of Autonomous PV-based Microgrids

Driven by rising energy demand and the goal of carbon neutrality, renewable energy generations (REGs), especially photovoltaic (PV) generations, are widely used in the urban power energy systems. While the intelligent control of microgrids (MG) brings economic and efficient operation, its potential stability problem cannot be ignored. To date, most of the research on modeling, analyzing and enhancing the stability of MG usually assume the DC-link as an ideal voltage source. However, this practice of ignoring the dynamics of DC-link may omit the latent oscillation phenomena of autonomous PV-based MG. First, this paper establishes a complete dynamic model of autonomous PV-based MG including PV panels and DC-link. Different from previous conclusions of idealizing DC-link dynamics, participation factor analysis finds the potential impact of DC-link dynamics on system dynamic performance, and different influence factors including critical control parameters and non-linear V-I output characteristic of PV array are considered to further reveal oscillation mechanisms. Second, based on the average consensus algorithm, a distributed stabilization controller with strong robustness is proposed to enhance stability of the PV-based MG, which does not affect the steady-state performance of the system. Finally, the correctness of all theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed controller are verified by time domain simulation and hardware-in-loop tests.10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 51907031

Magnetoplasmons in quantum rings

We have studied the structure and dipole charge density response of nanorings as a function of the magnetic field using local-spin density functional theory. Two small rings consisting of 12 and 22 electrons confined by a positively charged background are used to represent the cases of a narrow and a wide ring. The results are qualitatively compared with experimental data existing on microrings and on antidots. A smaller ring containing 5 electrons is also analyzed to allow for a closer comparison with a recent experiment on a two electron quantum ring.Comment: Typeset using Revtex, 13 pages and 11 Postscript figure

Retrospective Investigation and Research on Fall Events Among Hospitalized Patients in the Rehabilitation Department

Fang-Fang Lin,1 Wei-Yuan Yang,1 Jun-Xiang Zhou,1 Luo-Yuan Cao,2 Ling-Ling Huang1 1Department of Rehabilitation, Ningde Municipal Hospital Affiliated to Ningde Normal University, Ningde, 352000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Central Laboratory, Ningde Municipal Hospital Affiliated to Ningde Normal University, Ningde, 352000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jun-Xiang Zhou; Wei-Yuan Yang, Department of Rehabilitation, Ningde Municipal Hospital Affiliated to Ningde Normal University, No. 7 of Jiaocheng North Road, Jiaocheng District, Ningde, 352000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-15159370026 ; +86-13004929861, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: We investigated the clinical characteristics, fall outcomes, and related factors of falls in patients who were hospitalized in the rehabilitation department, and explored strategies to reduce the incidence of falls and prevent falls in patients.Methods: Data from 60 patients who fell in the rehabilitation department between 2016 and 2021 were analyzed for clinical characteristics, associated factors, incidence of falls, injuries, and patient demographics. Under the random stratified sampling method, 60 patients who did not fall during the same period were selected as the control group, and relevant data was collected. Measurement data were compared using an independent sample t-test. Enumeration data were compared using chi-squared (χ2) test was employed to compare these data between the two groups. Non-parametric data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U-test. Factors potentially influencing falls were scrutinized through both univariate and binary logistic regression analyses.Results: The median annual incidence of falls among patients who were hospitalized in the rehabilitation department was 0.04%, while the overall fall injury rate was 60%. Falls were most prevalent within 30 days of hospitalization (71.67%). The most common fall-related condition was craniocerebral disease (83.33%). The incidents of falls location of fall were mainly reported in nearby areas of rehabilitation ward (70%). Most accidents occurred between 7:00 a.m.– 12:00 p.m. and 3:01 p.m.– 6:00 p.m. (63.33%), and dyskinesia was the most common cause of falls (71.67%). There were 39 patients (65.00%) with Barthel Index (BI) scores ranging between 40– 60.Conclusion: Patients in the rehabilitation department had a greater incidence of falls and fall injuries. Within 30 days of admission, patients with moderately dependent craniocerebral disorders and dyskinesia frequently experienced falls during typical daytime shifts in areas characterized by endemic conditions.Keywords: daily living activities, dyskinesia, fall, hospitalized patients, rehabilitation department, retrospective analysi