Factors associated with fatigue in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients with antiretroviral drug adverse reactions: a retrospective study

AbstractObjectiveTo retrospectively study the prevalence of fatigue and factors associated with fatigue among acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients with antiretroviral drug adverse reactions.MethodsData were collected from case report forms (CRFs) for a project funded by the 11th National 5-year Special Science and Technology Program on Major Infectious Diseases. Fatigue was defined by patient self-report. The outcomes were the prevalence of fatigue and the potential risk factors of fatigue. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors associated with fatigue.ResultsAmong the 228 subjects, the prevalence of fatigue was 86.8%. In univariate analysis, the significant differences in demographic characteristics between patients with and without fatigue were: gender [OR=2.29; 95% CI (1.05-4.98)], education level [OR=0.40; 95% CI (0.18-0.85)], anemia [OR=3.80; 95% CI (1.27-11.31)], time of HIV diagnosis [OR= 0.29; 95% CI (0.13-0.65)], and route of infection [OR=0.14; 95% CI (0.06-0.32)]. Abnormal taste and rapid pulse were more commonly seen in patients with fatigue (P<0.05), while abdominal distension and lumbar soreness were encountered less often in patients with fatigue (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that the four main factors associated with fatigue were anemia [OR=3.50; 95% CI (1.01-12.15)], route of infection [OR=3.40; 95% CI (1.21-9.58); P=0.02<0.05], lumbar soreness [OR=0.06; 95% CI (0.02-0.18); P=0.000<0.05], and rapid pulse [OR=10.58; 95% CI (2.16-51.75); P=0.004<0.05].ConclusionThis study demonstrated that fatigue is common (86.8% prevalence) in AIDS patients with antiretroviral drug adverse reactions, and that anemia, route of infection (i.e., non-commercial blood donation) and rapid pulse were risk factors, while lumbar soreness was a protective factor related to fatigue. More attention should be paid to fatigue and more efforts should be made to find ways to prevent, control and eliminate this symptom in AIDS patients with antiretroviral drug adverse reactions

Reverse Doping Asymmetry in Semiconductor Thin Films Using External Voltage

Doping asymmetry is a notable phenomenon with semiconductors and a particularly longstanding challenge limiting the applications of most wide-band-gap semiconductors, which are inherent of spontaneous heavy n- or p-type doping because of their extreme band edges. This study theoretically shows that by applying a proper external voltage on materials during their growth or doping processes, we can largely tune the band edges and consequently reverse the doping asymmetry in semiconductor thin films. We take zinc oxide as a touchstone and computationally demonstrate that this voltage-assisted-doping approach efficiently suppresses the spontaneous n-type defects by around four orders under three distinct growth conditions and successfully generates p-type zinc oxide up to the lowest acceptor levels. The proposed approach is insensitive to materials, growth conditions, or defects origins, and thus offers a general solution to the doping asymmetry in semiconductor thin films

EFFECTS OF MONITORING SIGNAL HYSTERESIS ON SPEED REGULATION FOR THE AERO-DERIVATIVE GAS TURBINE

Sensor aging and sensor failure are the common phenomena due to the high temperature and pressure environment for gas turbines, which can lead to hysteresis of monitoring signals. In this paper, a kind of aero-derivative gas turbine is taken as the research object. The hysteresis effects of single monitoring signal and coupling of multiple monitoring signals on speed control are mainly studied, and the analysis is carried out from the perspective of adjustment time, overshoot, fuel quantity and fuel quantity regulation output. The analysis results show that the pressure signal hysteresis will lead to speed suspension. The speed signal hysteresis will change the speed regulation into a multi-step mode. When the monitoring signal hysteresis is coupled, the effect of pressure signal hysteresis is greater than that of speed signal hysteresis. The results of this paper can provide a reference for the optimal design of speed control of aero-derivative gas turbine