Body Mass Index of Male Youths Aged 18-20 Years of the Han Nationality Living in Different Regions of China

The study was conducted to assess the nutritional status and levels of body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and to evaluate the geographical distribution of male youths of the Han nationality in China. In total, 60,773 male youths, aged 18-20 years, of the Han nationality, were categorized into underweight, normal-weight, overweight, and obesity according to the international adult BMI cut-offs. Different levels of nutritional status and BMI of male youths of the Han nationality were compared among different areas. The mean BMI for the whole country was 20.6 in urban areas and 20.0 in rural areas. BMI increased from 20.1 among 18-year old youths to 20.5 among 20-year old youths. The prevalence of underweight among the male youths was 21.6%, while the prevalence of overweight and obesity were 4.6% and 0.6% respectively. For urban youths, the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity were 21.0%, 6.8%, and 1.1% respectively, while these were, respectively, 21.9%, 3.3%, and 0.3% for rural youths. The nutritional status of the male youths in North-China was at the highest level (21.1) among the six areas, and the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity were 14.3%, 9.1%, and 1.4% respectively. The highest prevalence of underweight was 29.8% in the North-West region, and the lowest prevalence of overweight was 2.2% in the South-Middle region, while the lowest prevalence of obesity was 0.2% in the South-West region. The nutritional status of the male youths was significantly different among different areas. Underweight was still prevalent in all male youth groups. Nonetheless, overweight was more prevalent among urban youths than among rural youths and was more prevalent in the North region than in the South region

Mechanistic Study of Visible-Light-Induced Photodegradation of 4-Chlorophenol by TiO 2− x

TiO2−x Nx powders with low N-doping concentrations (0.021<<0.049) were prepared by annealing commercial TiO2 (P-25) under an NH3 flow at 550°C. Regardless of UV or visible case, the photoactivities of the samples decreased as x increased, and TiO1.979N0.021 showed the highest activity for the 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) decomposition under the visible-light irradiation. The visible-light response for N-doped TiO2 could arise from an N-induced midgap level, formed above the valence band (O 2p). Electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements and the radical scavenger technologies gave the combined evidence that the active species (•OH and O2•−) are responsible for the photodecomposition of 4-CP over TiO2−xNx under the visible irradiation. A possible photocatalytic mechanism was discussed in detail

Discovering medication patterns for high-complexity drug-using diseases through electronic medical records

An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a professional document that contains all data generated during the treatment process. The EMR can utilize various data formats, such as numerical data, text, and images. Mining the information and knowledge hidden in the huge amount of EMR data is an essential requirement for clinical decision support, such as clinical pathway formulation and evidence-based medical research. In this paper, we propose a machine-learning-based framework to mine the hidden medication patterns in EMR text. The framework systematically integrates the Jaccard similarity evaluation, spectral clustering, the modified Latent Dirichlet Allocation and cross-matching among multiple features to find the residuals that describe additional knowledge and clusters hidden in multiple perspectives of highly complex medication patterns. These methods work together, step by step to reveal the underlying medication pattern. We evaluated the method by using real data from EMR text (patients with cirrhotic ascites) from a large hospital in China. The proposed framework outperforms other approaches for medication pattern discovery, especially for this disease with subtle medication treatment variances. The results also revealed little overlap among the discovered patterns; thus, the distinct features of each pattern are well studied through the proposed framework

Solution-processed two-dimensional materials for ultrafast fiber lasers (invited)

Abstract Since graphene was first reported as a saturable absorber to achieve ultrafast pulses in fiber lasers, many other two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as topological insulators, transition metal dichalcogenides, black phosphorus, and MXenes, have been widely investigated in fiber lasers due to their broadband operation, ultrafast recovery time, and controllable modulation depth. Recently, solution-processing methods for the fabrication of 2D materials have attracted considerable interest due to their advantages of low cost, easy fabrication, and scalability. Here, we review the various solution-processed methods for the preparation of different 2D materials. Then, the applications and performance of solution-processing-based 2D materials in fiber lasers are discussed. Finally, a perspective of the solution-processed methods and 2D material-based saturable absorbers are presented

Complex Networks Approach for Analyzing the Correlation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome Evolvement and Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Stable Coronary Heart Disease

This is a multicenter prospective cohort study to analyze the correlation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome evolvement and cardiovascular events in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD). The impact of syndrome evolvement on cardiovascular events during the 6-month and 12-month follow-up was analyzed using complex networks approach. Results of verification using Chi-square test showed that the occurrence of cardiovascular events was positively correlated with syndrome evolvement when it evolved from toxic syndrome to Qi deficiency, blood stasis, or sustained toxic syndrome, when it evolved from Qi deficiency to blood stasis, toxic syndrome, or sustained Qi deficiency, and when it evolved from blood stasis to Qi deficiency. Blood stasis, Qi deficiency, and toxic syndrome are important syndrome factors for stable CHD. There are positive correlations between cardiovascular events and syndrome evolution from toxic syndrome to Qi deficiency or blood stasis, from Qi deficiency to blood stasis, or toxic syndrome and from blood stasis to Qi deficiency. These results indicate that stable CHD patients with pathogenesis of toxin consuming Qi, toxin leading to blood stasis, and mutual transformation of Qi deficiency and blood stasis are prone to recurrent cardiovascular events

Cognitive decline and white matter changes in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

Noninvasive imaging plays a pivotal role in assessing the brain structural and functional changes in presurgical mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) patients. Our goal was to study the relationship between the changes of cerebral white matter (WM) and cognitive functions in MTLE patients.Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) MRI were performed on 24 right-handed MTLE patients (12 with left MTLE and 12 with right MTLE) and 12 matching healthy controls. Gray matter (GM), WM, and whole brain (WB) volumes were measured with VBM while fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) were measured with TBSS. All patients and controls also underwent Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) before MRI.WM volume and the ratio of WM volume versus WB volume were significantly lower in MTLE patients compared with controls. WM volume in MTLE patients had a positive correlation with MoCA score (r = 0.71, P < .001) and a negative correlation with the duration of epilepsy (r = -0.693, P < .001). Volumetric differences were mainly located in the corpus callosum, uncinate fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and superior longitudinal fasciculus. FA of both left MTLE and right MTLE groups was significantly decreased, while MD, AD, and RD were significantly increased. Most left MTLE patients showed bilateral WM fiber tract changes versus ipsilateral changes for right MTLE patients.Changes in DTI parameters and WM volume were found in MTLE patients and more ipsilateral changes were seen with right-sided MTLE. Cognitive changes of MTLE patients were found to be correlated with the changes in WM structure. These findings not only provide useful information for lateralization of the seizure focus but can also be used to explain functional connectivity disorders which may be an important physiological basis for cognitive changes in patients with MTLE

Comparative study of mesenchymal stem cells from C57BL/10 and mdx mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been studied and applied extensively because of their ability to self-renew and differentiate into various cell types. Since most human diseases models are murine, mouse MSCs should have been studied in detail. The mdx mouse – a Duchenne muscular dystrophy model – was produced by introducing a point mutation in the dystrophin gene. To understand the role of dystrophin in MSCs, we compared MSCs from mdx and C57BL/10 mice, focusing particularly on the aspects of light and electron microscopic morphology, immunophenotyping, and differentiation potential.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our study showed that at passage 10, mdx-MSCs exhibited increased heterochromatin, larger vacuoles, and more lysosomes under electron microscopy compared to C57BL/10-MSCs. C57BL/10-MSCs formed a few myotubes, while mdx-MSCs did not at the same passages. By passage 21, mdx-MSCs but not C57BL/10-MSCs had gradually lost their proliferative ability. In addition, a significant difference in the expression of CD34, not Sca-1 and CD11b, was observed between the MSCs from the 2 mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our current study reveals that the MSCs from the 2 mice, namely, C57BL/10 and mdx, exhibit differences in proliferative and myogenic abilities. The results suggest that the changes in mouse MSC behavior may be influenced by lack of dystrophin protein in mdx mouse.</p

Body Mass Index of Male Youths Aged 18-20 Years of the Han Nationality Living in Different Regions of China

The study was conducted to assess the nutritional status and levels of body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and to evaluate the geographical distribution of male youths of the Han nationality in China. In total, 60,773 male youths, aged 18-20 years, of the Han nationality, were categorized into underweight, normal-weight, overweight, and obesity according to the international adult BMI cut-offs. Different levels of nutritional status and BMI of male youths of the Han nationality were compared among different areas. The mean BMI for the whole country was 20.6 in urban areas and 20.0in rural areas. BMI increased from 20.1 among 18-year old youths to 20.5 among 20-year old youths. The prevalence of underweight among the male youths was 21.6%, while the prevalence of overweight and obesity were 4.6% and 0.6% respectively. For urban youths, the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity were 21.0%, 6.8%, and 1.1% respectively, while these were, respectively, 21.9%, 3.3%, and 0.3% for rural youths. The nutritional status of the male youths in North-China was at the highest level (21.1) among the six areas, and the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity were 14.3%, 9.1%, and 1.4% respectively. The highest prevalence of underweight was 29.8% in the North-West region, and the lowest prevalence of overweight was 2.2% in the South-Middle region, while the lowest prevalence of obesity was 0.2% in the South-West region. The nutritional status of the male youths was significantly different among different areas. Underweight was still prevalent in all male youth groups. Nonetheless, overweight was more prevalent among urban youths than among rural youths and was more prevalent in the North region than in the South region