Clinical Research Review of Acupuncture for Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease

In recent years, laryngopharyngeal reflux disease has attracted the attention of acupuncture clinicians. This article summarizes the acupuncture treatments (simple acupuncture, acupuncture combined with western medicine, acupoint application combined with Chinese medicine) and the corresponding treatment effects in the past 5 years. The current research has proved the effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion for laryngopharyngeal reflux disease, and provides methods and ideas for clinical treatment of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease

Index Modulation Assisted DCT-OFDM with Enhanced Transceiver Design

An index modulation (IM) assisted Discrete Cosine Transform based Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DCT-OFDM) with Enhanced Transmitter Design (termed as EDCT-OFDM-IM) is proposed. It amalgamates the concept of Discrete Cosine Transform assisted Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DCT-OFDM) and Index Modulation (IM) to exploit the design freedom provided by the double number of available subcarrier under the same bandwidth. In the proposed EDCT-OFDM-IM scheme, the maximum likelihood (ML) detector used for symbol bits and index bits recovering is derived and the sophisticated designing guidelines for EDCT-OFDM-IM are provided. Based on the derived pairwise error event probability, a theoretical upper bound on the average bit-error probability (ABEP) of EDCT-OFDM-IM is provided over multipath fading channels. Furthermore, the maximum peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of our proposed EDCT-OFDM-IM scheme is derived and compared to than the general Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) based OFDM-IM counterpart

Enhanced DCT-OFDM system with index modulation

Discrete cosine transform (DCT) based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), which has double number of subcarrier compared to the classic discrete fourier transform (DFT) based OFDM (DFT-OFDM) at the same bandwidth, is a promising high spectral efficiency multicarrier techniques for future wireless communication. In this paper, an enhanced DCT-OFDM with index modulation (IM) (EDCT-OFDM-IM) is proposed to further exploit the benefits of the DCT-OFDM and IM techniques. To be more specific, a pre-filtering method based DCT-OFDM-IM transmitter is first designed and the non-linear maximum likelihood (ML) is developed for our EDCT-OFDM-IM system. Moreover, the average bit error probability (ABEP) of the proposed EDCT-OFDM-IM system is derived, which is confirmed by our simulation results. Both simulation and theoretical results are shown that the proposed EDCT-OFDM-IM system exhibits better bit error rate (BER) performance over the conventional DFT-OFDM-IM and DCT-OFDM-IM counterparts

A Compressive Sensing Assisted Massive SM-VBLAST System: Error Probability and Capacity Analysis

The concept of massive spatial modulation (SM) assisted vertical bell labs space-time (V-BLAST) (SM-VBLAST) system [1] is proposed, where SM symbols (instead of conventional constellation symbols) are mapped onto the VBLAST structure. We show that the proposed SM-VBLAST is a promising massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) candidate owing to its high throughput and low number of radio frequency (RF) chains used at the transmitter. For the generalized massive SM-VBLAST systems, we first derive both the upper bounds of the average bit error probability (ABEP) and the lower bounds of the ergodic capacity. Then, we develop an efficient error correction mechanism (ECM) assisted compressive sensing (CS) detector whose performance tends to achieve that of the maximum likelihood (ML) detector. Our simulations indicate that the proposed ECM-CS detector is suitable both for massive SM-MIMO based point-to-point and for uplink communications at the cost of a slightly higher complexity than that of the compressive sampling matching pursuit (CoSaMP) based detector in the high SNR region

An Error Rate Comparison of Power Domain Non-orthogonal Multiple Access and Sparse Code Multiple Access

Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) has been envisioned as one of the key enabling techniques to fulfill the requirements of future wireless networks. The primary benefit of NOMA is higher spectrum efficiency compared to Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA). This paper presents an error rate comparison of two distinct NOMA schemes, i.e., power domain NOMA (PD-NOMA) and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA). In a typical PD-NOMA system, successive interference cancellation (SIC) is utilized at the receiver, which however may lead to error propagation. In comparison, message passing decoding is employed in SCMA. To attain the best error rate performance of PD-NOMA, we optimize the power allocation with the aid of pairwise error probability and then carry out the decoding using generalized sphere decoder (GSD). Our extensive simulation results show that SCMA system with “5×10” setting (i.e., ten users communicate over five subcarriers, each active over two subcarriers) achieves better uncoded BER and coded BER performance than both typical “1×2” and “2×4” PD-NOMA systems in uplink Rayleigh fading channel. Finally, the impacts of channel estimation error on SCMA , SIC and GSD based PD-NOMA and the complexity of multiuser detection schemes are also discussed

In vitro expression and analysis of the 826 human G protein-coupled receptors

ABSTRACT G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are involved in all human physiological systems where they are responsible for transducing extracellular signals into cells. GPCRs signal in response to a diverse array of stimuli including light, hormones, and lipids, where these signals affect downstream cascades to impact both health and disease states. Yet, despite their importance as therapeutic targets, detailed molecular structures of only 30 GPCRs have been determined to date. A key challenge to their structure determination is adequate protein expression. Here we report the quantification of protein expression in an insect cell expression system for all 826 human GPCRs using two different fusion constructs. Expression characteristics are analyzed in aggregate and among each of the five distinct subfamilies. These data can be used to identify trends related to GPCR expression between different fusion constructs and between different GPCR families, and to prioritize lead candidates for future structure determination feasibility

Bortezomib-based therapy for newly diagnosed mantle-cell lymphoma

Background: the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib was initially approved for the treatment of relapsed mantle-cell lymphoma. We investigated whether substituting bortezomib for vincristine in frontline therapy with R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) could improve outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed mantle-cell lymphoma. Methods: in this phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned 487 adults with newly diagnosed mantle-cell lymphoma who were ineligible or not considered for stem-cell transplantation to receive six to eight 21-day cycles of R-CHOP intravenously on day 1 (with prednisone administered orally on days 1 to 5) or VR-CAP (R-CHOP regimen, but replacing vincristine with bortezomib at a dose of 1.3 mg per square meter of body-surface area on days 1, 4, 8, and 11). The primary end point was progression-free survival. Results: after a median follow-up of 40 months, median progression-free survival (according to independent radiologic review) was 14.4 months in the R-CHOP group versus 24.7 months in the VR-CAP group (hazard ratio favoring the VR-CAP group, 0.63; P<0.001), a relative improvement of 59%. On the basis of investigator assessment, the median durations of progression-free survival were 16.1 months and 30.7 months, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.51; P<0.001), a relative improvement of 96%. Secondary end points were consistently improved in the VR-CAP group, including the complete response rate (42% vs. 53%), the median duration of complete response (18.0 months vs. 42.1 months), the median treatment-free interval (20.5 months vs. 40.6 months), and the 4-year overall survival rate (54% vs. 64%). Rates of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were higher in the VR-CAP group. Conclusions: VR-CAP was more effective than R-CHOP in patients with newly diagnosed mantle-cell lymphoma but at the cost of increased hematologic toxicity. (Funded by Janssen Research and Development and Millennium Pharmaceuticals; LYM-3002 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00722137)

Perceived Roles and Barriers in Delivering Community-Based Care: A Qualitative Study of Health and Social Care Professionals

Introduction: As healthcare systems increasingly embrace population health management, the integration of health and social care to improve the health and well-being of individuals is crucial. Thus, we conducted a qualitative study in Singapore to understand health and social care professionals’ (HCPs and SCPs) perception of the roles they played in delivering community-based care. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological research design was adopted. HCPs and SCPs (n = 53) providing services in community settings were recruited purposefully and interviewed through eleven focus group discussions. Each session was recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was applied. Results: Our results revealed eight themes in three main categories describing the roles played by HCPs and SCPs, including: (1) delivering needs-based care in community settings; (2) activating and empowering clients in health care, and (3) fostering community-based sustainable support networks. Six barriers encountered while performing these roles were also identified. Discussion and Conclusion: Our results highlight that the roles of HCPs and SCPs go beyond the provision of direct medical and social care. They were involved in activating and empowering clients to take care of their health, and importantly, fostering community-based sustainable support networks to better empower individuals in coping with health challenges. The identified barriers shed light on areas for potential improvements for integrated community care