Nasal Packing after Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

This chapter was to have a systematic review and meta‐analysis on the available literature in order to compare the efficacy and postoperative outcomes of nasal packing (absorbable vs. nonabsorbable) after treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis with functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). The systematic review included five studies with 241 nasal cavities in each treatment group. The prevalence of synechia in the absorbable groups ranged from 4.6 to 8.0% while nonabsorbable groups ranged from 8.0 to 35.7%. The absorbable group had a lower postoperative bleeding; however, there were no clear findings on postoperative pain. Postoperative edema was in general similar among groups, and no consistent findings were found on bleeding and pain while removing packing. The meta‐analysis included two studies using the same type of packing material. The combined OR (0.33, 95% CI = 0.04–2.78) for postoperative synechia did not significantly favor (P = 0.016308) absorbable packing over nonabsorbable packing. The available literature showed that there is some evidence that absorbable nasal packing may provide superior outcomes to nonabsorbable packing after FESS. However, lack of homogeneity between these studies makes it impossible to have a definitive conclusion

How Does Enterprise Social Software Impact on Employees’ Innovation Behavior? The Role of Symbolic Capital

Organizations are increasingly adopting new technologies, such as enterprise social software (ESS), which afford employees a repertoire of uses. They not simply focused on work but also on socialization and entertainment. Previous research suggested that the implementation of ESS in an organization had an impact on their employee’s creative behavior. However, how does it impact on is still not clear. In the present study, the generative mechanism of the impact on their employee’s innovation behavior is investigated. Based on the practice theory of Bourdieu and theory of critical realism, a large number of interviews within four small medium enterprises was conducted by the grounded theory methodology. The results indicated that the impact on their employee’s creative behavior was accomplished by four steps, i.e., ESS usage, capitals reproduced, being recognized and practice of creation. The managerial implications from our study are discussed finally. Keywords: ESS, Symbolic capital, Innovation behavior, Generative mechanis

Understanding the Drivers’ Continuous Intention of Online Car Booking Service

Based upon commitment theory, this study explores the effect of organizational commitment on drivers’ continuous intention to provide online car booking service. We further investigate the antecedent factors of the drivers’ organizational commitment. Online survey is utilized to collect data from the drivers who are providing service current from various companies in China. The results show that affective commitment and normative commitment serve as the crucial determinants to affect drivers’ continuous intention. Besides, social interaction ties with company, with customers, drivers’ rewards, as well as their sense of self-value cultivate their organizational commitment perception. We then propose our theoretical and practical implications according to the findings of this study

Phase transition and hysteresis in scale-free network traffic

We model information traffic on scale-free networks by introducing the node queue length L proportional to the node degree and its delivering ability C proportional to L. The simulation gives the overall capacity of the traffic system, which is quantified by a phase transition from free flow to congestion. It is found that the maximal capacity of the system results from the case of the local routing coefficient \phi slightly larger than zero, and we provide an analysis for the optimal value of \phi. In addition, we report for the first time the fundamental diagram of flow against density, in which hysteresis is found, and thus we can classify the traffic flow with four states: free flow, saturated flow, bistable, and jammed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Karakterizacija i antioksidativna svojstva hidrolizata proteina konoplje dobivenih pomoću enzima Neutrase®

Hemp protein hydrolysates with various yields of trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-soluble peptides (Ysp) and surface hydrophobicity (Ho) were obtained by Neutrase® hydrolysis from hemp protein isolate (HPI). The peptide profiles, amino acid composition and antioxidant activities (DPPH radical scavenging ability, reducing power and Fe2+ chelating ability) of the hydrolysates, obtained at 60–240 min, were evaluated. Higher DPPH radical scavenging (IC50, 2.3–2.4 mg/mL) and Fe2+ chelating (IC50, 1.7–1.8 mg/mL) abilities were observed for the hydrolysates with Ysp in the range of 28–30 and 18–28 %, respectively, while the high reducing power was only observed for the hydrolysate with Ysp of 18 %. The DPPH radical scavenging and Fe2+ chelating abilities were closely correlated with the peptide profiles and Ho of the hydrolysates. The peptide profiles of the hydrolysates with higher hydrophobic amino acids exhibited higher DPPH radical scavenging and Fe2+ chelating abilities.Hidrolizom izolata proteina pomoću enzima Neutrase® dobiveni su hidrolizati proteina konoplje s različitim prinosom peptida topljivih u trikloroctenoj kiselini (Ysp) i hidrofobnošću površine (Ho). Ispitan je peptidni profil, sastav aminokiselina i antioksidativna aktivnost (sposobnost uklanjanja DPPH radikala, reducirajuća snaga i sposobnost stvaranja helata Fe2+) hidrolizata dobivenih nakon 60-240 min. Uočena je veća sposobnost hidrolizata s Ysp=28-30 % da uklone DPPH radikale (IC50; 2,3-2,4 mg/mL), te veća mogućnost stvaranja helata Fe2+ s hidrolizatima vrijednosti Ysp=18-28 % (IC50; 1,7-1,8 mg/mL). Velika je reducirajuća snaga samo u hidrolizata s Ysp=18 %. Sposobnost uklanjanja DPPH radikala i stvaranja helata Fe2+ povezana je s peptidnim profilom i hidrofobnošću površine hidrolizata (Ho). Hidrolizati s većim udjelom hidrofobnih aminokiselina pokazali su bolju sposobnost uklanjanja DPPH radikala i stvaranja helata Fe2

The reference intervals for thyroid hormones: A four year investigation in Chinese population

IntroductionThe reference intervals (RIs) are of great importance for physicans to determine whether or not an individual is healthy. However, many clinical laboratories in China still adopted the default RI provided by the manufacturers; and these “uncalibrated” RIs might lead to the misdiagnosis of diseases. In the present study, we enroll reference people with the purpose of determining the RIs of serum triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in Chinese population, and explore the possible roles of age and sex on the levels of biomarkers.MethodsSerum samples from 66,609 individuals who met the inclusion criteria were analyzed using an Roche Cobas E 601 hormone analyzer. The dynamic trends of biomarker were visually assessed by their concentrations over age and sex. Specific partitions were determined by the method of Harris and Boyd. RIs, corresponding to the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, as well as the 0.5th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 99.5th percentiles were calculated for each reference partition using a non-parametric rank approach.ResultsThe serum level of T3, T4, FT4 or TSH showed a right-skewed distribution in both males and females while FT3 presented an approximate normal distribution. Females had a higher mode value of serum T3 or T4, but a lower mode value of serum TSH, FT3 or FT4. All five biomarkers did not need age partitioning according to the approach of harris and boyd, while T3 and FT3 need sex partitioning.ConclusionsThe present study not only determined the age- and sex-specific trends of the five thyroid hormones, but provided sex-stratified RIs for T3 and FT3, valuably contributing to the current literature and timely evaluation of thyroid health and disease