CFD Analysis of Pollutant Removal Mechanism in Urban Street Canyons

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Measuring the geographic coverage of methadone maintenance programme in Hong Kong by using geographic information system (GIS)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>While access and utilization form core components in assessing the effectiveness of a health service, the concept of coverage is often neglected. In this study we propose to develop a GIS-based methodological framework for the measurement of district-based geographic coverage to examine the service effectiveness of methadone treatment programme (MTP) in Hong Kong on a regular basis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To overcome the incompatibility of spatial units, population data and data of heroin addiction of the year 2001 are interpolated by population-weighted and area-weighted algorithms. Standard overlay and proximity analytical functions are used to delineate altogether 20 accessible zones around each methadone clinic at a fixed 1.5 km Euclidean distance. Geographic coverage here is defined as the percentage of heroin addicts covered by a methadone clinic within the accessible zone by district.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 6413 out of 11000 reported heroin addicts are found geographically covered. The average geographic coverage in Hong Kong is 44.6%, with the figure varying from 0% to 96% by district. One district having no clinic results in 0% coverage whereas another without a clinic yields 15.3% coverage from the clinic in adjacent district. Maps illustrating district-based geographic coverage are generated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>As continuous data collection is required for a monitoring system, the simplified approach facilitates the handling of large volume data and relevant data analysis. It is concluded that the number of methadone clinics is as important as their locations. Geographic coverage could become an important consideration for monitoring harm reduction.</p

A Note on Chiral Symmetry Breaking from Intersecting Branes

In this paper, we will consider the chiral symmetry breaking in the holographic model constructed from the intersecting brane configuration, and investigate the Nambu-Goldstone bosons associated with this symmetry breaking.Comment: 16 pp, minor changes, to appear PR

RNA-seq analysis of synovial fibroblasts brings new insights into rheumatoid arthritis

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune-disease of unknown origin that primarily affects the joints and ultimately leads to their destruction. Growing evidence suggests that synvovial fibroblasts play important roles in the initiation and the perpetuation of RA but underlying molecular mechanisms are not understood fully. In the present study, Illumina RNA sequencing was used to profile two human normal control and two rheumatoid arthritis synvovial fibroblasts (RASFs) transcriptomes to gain insights into the roles of synvovial fibroblasts in RA. RESULTS: We found that besides known inflammatory and immune responses, other novel dysregulated networks and pathways such as Cell Morphology, Cell-To-Cell Signaling and Interaction, Cellular Movement, Cellular Growth and Proliferation, and Cellular Development, may all contribute to the pathogenesis of RA. Our study identified several new genes and isoforms not previously associated with rheumatoid arthritis. 122 genes were up-regulated and 155 genes were down-regulated by at least two-fold in RASFs compared to controls. Of note, 343 known isoforms and 561 novel isoforms were up-regulated and 262 known isoforms and 520 novel isoforms were down-regulated by at least two-fold. The magnitude of difference and the number of differentially expressed known and novel gene isoforms were not detected previously by DNA microarray. CONCLUSIONS: Since the activation and proliferation of RASFs has been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis, further in-depth follow-up analysis of the transcriptional regulation reported in this study may shed light on molecular pathogenic mechanisms underlying synovial fibroblasts in arthritis and provide new leads of potential therapeutic targets

Do Girls and Boys Perceive Themselves as Equally Engaged in School? The Results of an International Study from 12 Countries

This study examined gender differences in student engagement and academic performance in school. Participants included 3420 students (7th, 8th, and 9th graders) from Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results indicated that, compared to boys, girls reported higher levels of engagement in school andwere rated higher by their teachers in academic performance. Student engagement accounted for gender differences in academic performance, but gender did not moderate the associations among student engagement, academic performance, or contextual supports. Analysis of multiple-group structural equation modeling revealed that perceptions of teacher support and parent support, but not peer support, were related indirectly to academic performance through student engagement. This partial mediation model was invariant across gender. The findings from this study enhance the understanding about the contextual and personal factors associated with girls' and boys' academic performance around the world

Geographical, meteorological and vectorial factors related to malaria re-emergence in Huang-Huai River of central China

<p/> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria still represents a significant public health problem in China, and the cases dramatically increased in the areas along the Huang-Huai River of central China after 2001. Considering spatial aggregation of malaria cases and specific vectors, the geographical, meteorological and vectorial factors were analysed to determine the key factors related to malaria re-emergence in these particular areas.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The geographic information of 357 malaria cases and 603 water bodies in 113 villages were collected to analyse the relationship between the residence of malaria cases and water body. Spearman rank correlation, multiple regression, curve fitting and trend analysis were used to explain the relationship between the meteorological factors and malaria incidence. Entomological investigation was conducted in two sites to get the vectorial capacity and the basic reproductive rate to determine whether the effect of vector lead to malaria re-emergence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The distances from household of cases to the nearest water-body was positive-skew distributed, the median was 60.9 m and 74% malaria cases were inhabited in the extent of 60 m near the water body, and the risk rate of people live there attacked by malaria was higher than others(<it>OR </it>= 1.6, 95%<it>CI </it>(1.042, 2.463), <it>P </it>< 0.05). The annual average temperature and rainfall may have close relationship with annual incidence. The average monthly temperature and rainfall were the key factors, and the correlation coefficients are 0.501 and 0.304(<it>P </it>< 0.01), respectively. Moreover, 75.3% changes of monthly malaria incidence contributed to the average monthly temperature (T_mean), the average temperature of last two months(T_mean01) and the average rainfall of current month (R_mean) and the regression equation was Y = -2.085 + 0.839I₁+ 0.998T_mean0- 0.86T_mean01+ 0.16R_mean0. All the collected mosquitoes were <it>Anopheles sinensis</it>. The vectorial capacity and the basic reproductive rate of <it>An. sinensis </it>in two sites were 0.6969, 0.4983 and 2.1604, 1.5447, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The spatial distribution between malaria cases and water-body, the changing of meteorological factors, and increasing vectorial capacity and basic reproductive rate of <it>An. sinensis </it>leaded to malaria re-emergence in these areas.</p

Epitranscriptomics for Biomedical Discovery

Epitranscriptomics is a newly burgeoning field pertaining to the complete delineation and elucidation of chemical modifications of nucleotides found within all classes of RNA that do not involve a change in the ribonucleotide sequence. More than 140 diverse and distinct nucleotide modifications have been identified in RNA, dwarfing the number of nucleotide modifications found in DNA. The majority of epitranscriptomic modifications have been identified in ribosomal RNA (rRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and small nuclear RNA (snRNA). However, in total, the knowledge of the occurrence, and specifically the function, of RNA modifications remains scarce. Recently, the rapid advancement of next‐generation sequencing and mass spectrometry technologies have allowed for the identification and functional characterization of nucleotide modifications in both protein‐coding and non‐coding RNA on a global, transcriptome scale. In this chapter, we will introduce the concepts of nucleotide modification, summarize transcriptome‐wide RNA modification mapping techniques, highlight recent studies exploring the functions of RNA modifications and their association to disease, and finally offer insight into the future progression of epitranscriptomics