Simulation and Optimization of Pedestrian Regular Evacuation in Comprehensive Rail Transit Hub – A Case Study in Beijing

Extensive efforts have been made in pedestrian evacuation of urban rail transit systems, since there has emerged an increasing number of congestion problems. However, few studies focus on the comprehensive urban rail transit hubs. As a comprehensive interchange hub integrating urban railway and intercity railway lines, Beijing West Railway Station was taken as a case study object. The pedestrian evacuation characteristics were analysed first. Then, a social force-based simulation model of Beijing West Railway Station was constructed in PTV Viswalk. The model was applied to visually display a real evacuation process and help identify evacuation bottlenecks. The results showed that the risk points at different facilities had various causes and features. Furthermore, the simulation model could also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of different optimization measures as long as certain model parameters were changed beforehand.</p

Efficacy of HuaDan Anshen Mistura for treating insomnia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical trial

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of HuaDan Anshen Mistura (mistura) in clinical treatment of Chinese patients with insomnia.MethodsIn this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center study, 244 patients with insomnia were randomly assigned to a placebo group, a low-dose (10 mL/day), or a high-dose (20 mL/day) mistura group. Efficacy was assessed by using the sleep dysfunction rating scale (SDRS) and Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scores. Safety and tolerability assessments included emergent adverse events, laboratory tests, and electrocardiograms.ResultsTotal SDRS scores decreased in all three groups, and there were significant differences between the placebo group and the low- and high-dose mistura groups (P=0.000). CGI-I ratings in the low- and high-dose mistura groups were significantly better than that of the placebo group (P=0.000). Incidences of rebound insomnia were similar in all three groups (placebo group: 6.94%, low-dose mistura group: 12.99%, and high-dose mistura group: 10.96%; P=0.475). The efficacy of HuaDan Anshen Mistura in the low- or high-dose group was significantly better than that of the placebo group (P=0.000), but with no significant difference found between the low- and high-dose mistura groups (P=0.887). The rates of adverse events were similar in the three groups (placebo 2.44%, low-dose mistura 0%, and high-dose mistura 5%; P=0.088).ConclusionHuaDan Anshen Mistura is an effective and generally well-tolerated hypnotic medicine for the treatment of Chinese patients with insomnia

Risk factors associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis based on the observational study: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting the upper and lower motor neurons. Though the pathogenesis of ALS is still unclear, exploring the associations between risk factors and ALS can provide reliable evidence to find the pathogenesis. This meta-analysis aims to synthesize all related risk factors of ALS to understand this disease comprehensively.MethodsWe searched the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science, and Scopus. Moreover, observational studies, including cohort studies, and case-control studies, were included in this meta-analysis.ResultsA total of 36 eligible observational studies were included, and 10 of them were cohort studies and the rest were case-control studies. We found six factors exacerbated the progression of disease: head trauma (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.13, 1.40), physical activity (OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.09), electric shock (OR = 2.72, 95% CI = 1.62, 4.56), military service (OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.11, 1.61), pesticides (OR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.7, 2.26), and lead exposure (OR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.44, 3.71). Of note, type 2 diabetes mellitus was a protective factor for ALS. However, cerebrovascular disease (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.75, 1.29), agriculture (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.74, 1.99), industry (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.81, 1.91), service (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.19, 1.17), smoking (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 0.5, 3.09), chemicals (OR = 2.45, 95% CI = 0.89, 6.77), and heavy metal (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 0.47, 4.84) were not risk factors for ALS based on meta-analyses.ConclusionsHead trauma, physical activity, electric shock, military service, pesticides, and lead were risk factors for ALS onset and progression. But DM was a protective factor. This finding provides a better understanding of ALS risk factors with strong evidence for clinicians to rationalize clinical intervention strategies.INPLSY registration numberhttps://inplasy.com/inplasy-2022-9-0118/, INPLASY202290118

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Genetic Parameters and Genetic Progress of Growth Traits in a Landrace Pig Population

【Objective】Four genetic parameters including days to 100 kg (DAYS_100), average daily gain (ADG_100), loin muscle area (LMA_100) and average back fat thickness (BFT_100) at 100 kg body weight in a Landrace pig population were estimated, and the correlations between traits as well as genetic and phenotypic progress of the four traits were analyzed, which could provide a basis for the genetic improvement of the target population.【Method】Records of growth traits of Landrace pigs were collected in a core breeding pig farm in Guangxi from 2002 to 2020. A fixed effect analysis on the factors affecting the growth traits of Landrace pigs was conducted by R software. In addition, the genetic parameters of the four traits were estimated with DMU software and a multi-trait animal model. Furthermore, the genetic correlations and phenotypic correlations between these traits, genetic progress and phenotypic progress were evaluated.【Result】The estimated heritability for the four growth traits of Landrace pigs, including DAYS_100, ADG_100, LMA_100 and BFT_100 were 0.399, 0.391, 0.433 and 0.421, respectively, and all of them had medium to high heritability. Both genetic correlation and phenotypic correlation between DAYS_100 and ADG_100 were significantly negative, with correlation coefficient -0.997 and -0.992, respectively. In general, the phenotypic trend of DAYS_100 was rising while the phenotypic trends of ADG_100, LMA_100 and BFT_100 were declining; the genetic trends of ADG_100 and BFT_100 showed an overall upward trend while the trends of DAYS_100 and LMA_100 were generally downward.【Conclusion】The four growth traits of Landrace pigs are medium-high heritability traits, therefore, their genetic progress can be accelerated through direct selection. There is a strong correlation between DAYS_100 and ADG_100. The management of phenotypic measurement of pig farms and the selection of target traits for pig population breeding have an important impact on the performance of growth traits. In addition, the improvements in farm production management and changes in breed structure may influence genetic progress

Ewing's sarcoma of the cervix: a case report and review of literature.

Ewing’s sarcoma (ES) is a small cell malignant tumor that occurs in the bone of children or adolescents. ES can also occur in extraskeletal organs, such as the pancreas, thyroid, liver, proximal phalanx, and, rarely, cervix. Only 15 published case reports have discussed ES arising in the cervix. We report a 76-year- old woman who had groin mass. ES was diagnosed in accordance with morphological and immunohisto- chemical maps. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and RT-PCR (reverse transcription PCR) revealed ESWR1 gene rearrangement and fusion gene formation (EWS- FLI-1), both of which confirmed the diagnosis of ES. Although the patient underwent surgical resection, the patient died without chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This case is the first one to involve a patient aged over 70 years and the fifth one to show metastasis occurrenc

A robust and tunable Luttinger liquid in correlated edge of transition-metal second-order topological insulator Ta2Pd3Te5

Abstract The interplay between topology and interaction always plays an important role in condensed matter physics and induces many exotic quantum phases, while rare transition metal layered material (TMLM) has been proved to possess both. Here we report a TMLM Ta2Pd3Te5 has the two-dimensional second-order topology (also a quadrupole topological insulator) with correlated edge states - Luttinger liquid. It is ascribed to the unconventional nature of the mismatch between charge- and atomic- centers induced by a remarkable double-band inversion. This one-dimensional protected edge state preserves the Luttinger liquid behavior with robustness and universality in scale from micro- to macro- size, leading to a significant anisotropic electrical transport through two-dimensional sides of bulk materials. Moreover, the bulk gap can be modulated by the thickness, resulting in an extensive-range phase diagram for Luttinger liquid. These provide an attractive model to study the interaction and quantum phases in correlated topological systems