Knowledge management system and infertility treatment using Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been practiced for over 5000 years. Different from western medicine which has its origin from anatomy, TCM is based on the ancient Chinese perception of humans as part of the environment and universe, subject to nature and its forces, therefore, health and diseases are direct result of the interaction of humans with the environment and the balance of distinct yet interconnected organs. The effectiveness of TCM has been recognized widely, yet due to its complexity and underlying conceptual foundations, it is very challenging to seek scientific evidence on how it works using lab experiments. This paper discusses an ongoing knowledge management project that is built on the logic of TCM treatment of infertility. The purpose of this project is to promote understanding of the TCM treatment, uncover its underlying theories, preserve TCM knowledge, and facilitate its continuing development

Nonparametric Mean Shift Functional Detection in the Functional Space for Task and Resting-state fMRI

International audienceIn functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data analysis, normalization of time series is an important and sometimes necessary preprocessing step in many widely used methods. The space of normalized time series with n time points is the unit sphere S^{n-2}, named the functional space. Riemannian framework on the sphere, including the geodesic, the exponential map, and the logarithmic map, has been well studied in Riemannian geometry. In this paper, by introducing the Riemannian framework in the functional space, we propose a novel nonparametric robust method, namely Mean Shift Functional Detection (MSFD), to explore the functional space. The first merit of the MSFD is that it does not need many assumptions on data which are assumed in many existing method, e.g. linear addition (GLM, PCA, ICA), uncorrelation (PCA), independence (ICA), the number and the shape of clusters (FCM). Second, MSFD takes into account the spatial information and can be seen as a multivariate extension of the functional connectivity analysis method. It is robust and works well for activation detection in task study even with a biased activation reference. It is also able to find the functional networks in resting-state study without a user-selected "seed" region. Third, it can enhance the boundary between different functional networks. Experiments were conducted on synthetic and real data to compare the performance of the proposed method with GLM and ICA. The experimental results validated the accuracy and robustness of MSFD, not only for activation detection in task study but also for functional network exploration in resting-state study

Aqueous extract of Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux attenuates sepsis-induced acute lung injury via regulation of TLR4/NF-ΚB pathway

Purpose: To investigate the therapeutic effect of aqueous extract of Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux (AEACD) on sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI), as well as explore the underlying mechanism of action. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were treated with AEACD by gavage (4.0 g/kg/day) for 5 days before cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) challenge. After 24 h, the pathological morphology of lung tissue and the biochemical parameters in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were determined by H&E staining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Furthermore, the total protein content and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level of BALF, as well as the oxidative biomarkers (malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD)) were evaluated in the lung homogenates by ELISA assay. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNFα, IL-1β, and IL-6, in lung tissue were measured by qRT-PCR or ELISA. Finally, key proteins in Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway in lung tissue were evaluated by western blot. Results: CLP challenge induced abnormal changes in the histological structures of lung tissue, lung wet-to-dry weight (W/D) ratio, protein content and LDH levels of BALF, which were remarkably reversed by AEACD. In addition, AEACD decreased MDA levels, and increased GSH levels and SOD activity in the lung tissue of CLP–treated mice (p < 0.05). Furthermore, AEACD attenuated the CLP challengeinduced upregulation of TNFα, IL-1β, and IL-6. Finally, AEACD inactivated TLR4/NF-κB pathway by upregulating IκBα and downregulating TLR4 and phosphorylated-p65 levels. Conclusion: AEACD administration protects mice against sepsis-induced ALI through the regulation of oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in lung tissues. The underlying mechanism occurs by inhibiting TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. Keywords: Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux, Acute lung injury, Sepsis, TLR4, NF-κ

An Integrated Use of Topography with RSI in Gully Mapping, Shandong Peninsula, China

Taking the Quickbird optical satellite imagery of the small watershed of Beiyanzigou valley of Qixia city, Shandong province, as the study data, we proposed a new method by using a fused image of topography with remote sensing imagery (RSI) to achieve a high precision interpretation of gully edge lines. The technique first transformed remote sensing imagery into HSV color space from RGB color space. Then the slope threshold values of gully edge line and gully thalweg were gained through field survey and the slope data were segmented using thresholding, respectively. Based on the fused image in combination with gully thalweg thresholding vectors, the gully thalweg thresholding vectors were amended. Lastly, the gully edge line might be interpreted based on the amended gully thalweg vectors, fused image, gully edge line thresholding vectors, and slope data. A testing region was selected in the study area to assess the accuracy. Then accuracy assessment of the gully information interpreted by both interpreting remote sensing imagery only and the fused image was performed using the deviation, kappa coefficient, and overall accuracy of error matrix. Compared with interpreting remote sensing imagery only, the overall accuracy and kappa coefficient are increased by 24.080% and 264.364%, respectively. The average deviations of gully head and gully edge line are reduced by 60.448% and 67.406%, respectively. The test results show the thematic and the positional accuracy of gully interpreted by new method are significantly higher. Finally, the error sources for interpretation accuracy by the two methods were analyzed

Impacts of Agricultural Expansion (1910s-2010s) on Water Cycle in the Songneng Plain, Northeast China

Agricultural expansion is one of the primary land use changes on the Earth’s surface. The Songnen Plain in Northeast China is renowned for its Black Soil and is one of the most important agricultural regions of this country. In the last century, its population increased 20-fold and excessive areas of grassland were cultivated. Based on a series of decadal land use/land cover data sets in the plain (1910s–2010s), this study simulated the water balance in each decade using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and assessed the water effects of centurial agricultural expansion. Six variables were simulated to explain the land-atmosphere interaction: precipitation, total evapotranspiration, canopy transpiration, canopy interception evaporation, land evaporation and land surface runoff and infiltration. Agreeing with historical climate reanalysis data, the simulated precipitation in the plain did not have a significant trend. However, the total evapotranspiration significantly increased in the study region. The canopy transpiration and interception evaporation increased and the runoff and infiltration decreased, both indicating a drought effect in soil. The drying trend varied spatially with the strongest pattern in the central plain where large areas of wetlands remain. As a consequence of agricultural expansion, the centurial drying process in the fertile Black Soil may put strong pressure on the crop productivity and food safety of this important agricultural region

The Practice Innovation and Standardization Construction of the Assessment for Civil Servant at the Basic Level: Based on the Research of W County in Chongqing

Strengthening the assessment for civil servant at the basic level is the basis requirements of "four comprehensive" strategy. This paper empirically studies the practice innovation and standardization construction of the assessment for civil servants at the grass-roots level which takes W county in Chongqing as an example. The study found that: although W county has been established and widely publicized the civil servant assessment system, and achieved remarkable achievement in   principles, contents, methods, procedures and results of assessment. but there are still non-standard problems such as the macro and abstract of assessment content, the non-conformance of method using, the lack of openness and feedback of procedure, the results highly concentrated and its use insufficient,etc.. That is because the understanding of assessment purpose and meaning is not clear, the scientific analysis and target management of strategy and position is lack, classified assessment is not scientific and meticulous, and process and standard is neither rigorous nor objective. therefore, this paper puts forward the standardization construction path of the civil servant assessment: to deepen the understanding of evaluation purpose and meaning  by strengthen the consciousness education; To establish the reasonable classification grading assessment system by sufficient investigation and scientific research; To determine scientifically the assessment contents and index system through strategic management, target management and position analysis; According to the authority of civil servants and job characteristics, to determine scientifically the assessment main body; To innovate assessment method and technology by perfecting assessment system;To improve the results of the assessment feedback and its use by optimization evaluation procedures