921 research outputs found
A Clinical Study of the Pulse Wave Characteristics at the Three Pulse Diagnosis Positions of Chon, Gwan and Cheok
In this work, we analyze the baseline, signal strength, aortic augmentation index (AIx), radial AIx, time to reflection and P_T2 at Chon, Gwan, and Cheok, which are the three pulse diagnosis positions in Oriental medicine. For the pulse measurement, we used the SphygmoCor apparatus, which has been widely used for the evaluation of the arterial stiffness at the aorta. By two-way repeated measures analysis of variance, we tested two independent measurements for repeatability and investigated their mean differences among Chon, Gwan and Cheok. To characterize further the parameters that were shown to be different between each palpation position, we carried out Duncan's test for the multiple comparisons. The baseline and signal strength were statistically different (P < .05) among Chon, Gwan and Cheok, respectively, which supports the major hypothesis of Oriental medicine that all of the three palpation positions contain different clinical information. On the other hand, aortic AIx and time to reflection were found to be statistically different between Chon and the others, and radial AIx and P_T2 did not show any difference between pulse positions. In the clinical sense, however, the aortic AIx at each palpation position was found to fall within the 90% confidence interval of normal arterial compliance. The results of the multiple comparisons indicate that the parameters of arterial stiffness were independent of the palpation positions. This work is the first attempt to characterize quantitatively the pulse signals at Chon, Gwan and Cheok with some relevant parameters extracted from the SphygmoCor apparatus
SoEasy: A Software Framework for Easy Hardware Control Programming for Diverse IoT Platforms
Many Internet of Things (IoT) applications are emerging and evolving rapidly thanks to widespread open-source hardware platforms. Most of the high-end open-source IoT platforms include built-in peripherals, such as the universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter (UART), pulse width modulation (PWM), general purpose input output (GPIO) ports and timers, and have enough computation power to run embedded operating systems such as Linux. However, each IoT platform has its own way of configuring peripherals, and it is difficult for programmers or users to configure the same peripheral on a different platform. Although diverse open-source IoT platforms are widespread, the difficulty in programming those platforms hinders the growth of IoT applications. Therefore, we propose an easy and convenient way to program and configure the operation of each peripheral using a user-friendly Web-based software framework. Through the implementation of the software framework and the real mobile robot application development along with it, we show the feasibility of the proposed software framework, named SoEasy
Strong correlation effects in the doped Hubbard model in infinite dimensions
The density of states and the optical conductivity of the doped Hubbard model
on a Bethe lattice with infinite connectivities have been studied using an
analytic variant of the Lanczos continued fraction method. The spectral weight
of the gap states and the position of the chemical potential upon hole or
electron doping have been studied. We argue that the strong correlation effects
such as gap states and midinfrared band shown in two dimensions also appear in
infinite dimensions.Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 3 figures upon reques
Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions associated with HPV vaccination among female Korean and Chinese university students
Abstract
Background
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is a form of primary prevention for cervical cancer. The HPV vaccination rate of female university students is not high in Korea and China. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify and compare the factors associated with intention to receive HPV vaccination between Korean and Chinese female university students.
Methods
The participants were 273 Korean and 317 Chinese female university students who had not been vaccinated for HPV, and data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire about attitudes toward HPV vaccination, HPV knowledge, perceptions of HPV infection, and intention to receive HPV vaccine.
Results
There were no significant differences between the Korean and Chinese female university students in HPV knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and vaccination intention. The factors influencing the intention of HPV vaccination in Korean students were a positive attitude toward the HPV vaccine and a high HPV knowledge score. For Chinese students, sexual experience, awareness of genital warts, a positive attitude toward the HPV vaccine, a high HPV knowledge scores, a perception of the seriousness of HPV infection, and negative emotions regarding HPV infection were significant factors.
Conclusions
It is important to improve attitudes and knowledge about HPV and the HPV vaccine in order to enhance HPV vaccination both in Korea and China. Perceived seriousness and negative emotions regarding HPV infection should be used as a framework to develop subject-tailored interventions in China
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Bone Morphogenetic Proteinâ2 Decreases MicroRNAâ30b and MicroRNAâ30c to Promote Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Calcification
Background: Vascular calcification resembles bone formation and involves vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) transition to an osteoblastâlike phenotype to express Runx2, a master osteoblast transcription factor. One possible mechanism by which Runx2 protein expression is induced is downregulation of inhibitory microRNAs (miR). Methods and Results: Human coronary artery SMCs (CASMCs) treated with bone morphogenetic proteinâ2 (BMPâ2; 100 ng/mL) demonstrated a 1.7âfold (P<0.02) increase in Runx2 protein expression at 24 hours. A miR microarray and target prediction database analysis independently identified miRâ30b and miRâ30c (miRâ30bâc) as miRs that regulate Runx2 expression. Realâtimeâpolymerase chain reaction confirmed that BMPâ2 decreased miRâ30b and miRâ30c expression. A luciferase reporter assay verified that both miRâ30b and miRâ30c bind to the 3â˛âuntranslated region of Runx2 mRNA to regulate its expression. CASMCs transfected with antagomirs to downregulate miRâ30bâc demonstrated significantly increased Runx2, intracellular calcium deposition, and mineralization. Conversely, forced expression of miRâ30bâc by transfection with preâmiRâ30bâc prevented the increase in Runx2 expression and mineralization of SMCs. Calcified human coronary arteries demonstrated higher levels of BMPâ2 and lower levels of miRâ30b than did noncalcified donor coronary arteries. Conclusions: BMPâ2 downregulates miRâ30b and miRâ30c to increase Runx2 expression in CASMCs and promote mineralization. Strategies that modulate expression of miRâ30b and miRâ30c may influence vascular calcification
Effects of warming and eutrophication on coastal phytoplankton production
Phytoplankton production in coastal waters influences seafood production and human health and can lead to harmful algal blooms. Water temperature and eutrophication are critical factors affecting phytoplankton production, although the combined effects of warming and nutrient changes on phytoplankton production in coastal waters are not well understood. To address this, phytoplankton production changes in natural waters were investigated using samples collected over eight months, and under 64 different initial conditions, established by combining four different water temperatures (i.e., ambient T, + 2, + 4, and + 6 degrees C), and two different nutrient conditions (i.e., non-enriched and enriched). Under the non-enriched conditions, the effect of warming on phytoplankton production was significantly positive in some months, significantly negative in others, or had no effect. However, under enriched conditions, warming affected phytoplankton production positively in all months except one, when the salinity was as low as 6.5. These results suggest that nutrient conditions can alter the effects of warming on phytoplankton production. Of several parameters, the ratio of initial nitrate concentration to chlorophyll a concentration [NCCA, mu M (pg L-1)(-1))] was one of the most critical factors determining the directionality of the warming effects. In laboratory experiments, when NCCA in the ambient or nutrient-enriched waters was >= 1.2, warming increased or did not change phytoplankton production with one exception; however, when NCCA was < 1.2, warming did not change or decreased production. In the time series data obtained from the coastal waters of four target countries, when NCCA was 1.5 or more, warming increased phytoplankton production, whereas when NCCA was lower than 1.5, warming lowered phytoplankton production, Thus, it is suggested that NCCA could be used as an index for predicting future phytoplankton production changes in coastal waters.11Ysciescopu
Multi-Channel Kondo Necklace
A multi--channel generalization of Doniach's Kondo necklace model is
formulated, and its phase diagram studied in the mean--field approximation. Our
intention is to introduce the possible simplest model which displays some of
the features expected from the overscreened Kondo lattice. The conduction
electron channels are represented by sets of pseudospins \vt_{j}, , which are all antiferromagnetically coupled to a periodic array of
|\vs|=1/2 spins. Exploiting permutation symmetry in the channel index
allows us to write down the self--consistency equation for general . For
, we find that the critical temperature is rising with increasing Kondo
interaction; we interpret this effect by pointing out that the Kondo coupling
creates the composite pseudospin objects which undergo an ordering transition.
The relevance of our findings to the underlying fermionic multi--channel
problem is discussed.Comment: 29 pages (2 figures upon request from [email protected]), LATEX,
submitted for publicatio
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