Su-chou T’an-tz’u : an ethnomusicological study of the structural elements of the Chinese southern singing-narratives

Storytelling is a popular entertainment in all parts of China, and there are almost as many styles as localities. Along the Yangtze River, with Su-chou as the center, the main types of storytelling is p'ing-t'an, the Su-chou storytelling. P'ing-t'an3 performed in the Su-chou dialect, is a collective term denoting two forms of storytelling: p'ing-hua3 narration without music; and t'an-tz'u the singing narrative. The music of the latter is the main concern of the present study. The methods of this study can be outlined as follows. In the introduction of this thesis, the general history of Chinese storytelling is outlined; and the relevant reference sources and the purpose, methods and scope of the investigation are discussed. Chapter I is concerned with the history and development of t'an-tz'u. Chapter II is subdivided into two sections. Section A discusses the four structural elements involved in t'an-tz'u performances: narration, comic insertions, singing, and instrumental playing. Section B deals with the traditional process of the training of professional t'an-tz'u singers. Chapter III includes the transcriptions of twelve t'an-tz'u pieces, selected from eleven schools of singing styles. These pieces are analyzed in Chapter IV, with particular emphasis on the degrees of correlation between Su-chou speech-tones and t'an-tz'u singing. To my knowledge: (1) This is the first comprehensive analysis made on the structure of t'an-tz'u music in Western literature; (2) the twelve t'an-tz'u pieces to be analyzed have not previously been transcribed into staff notation; and (3) the study on the degrees of correlation between Su-chou speech-tones and t'an-tz'u music is the first attempt made on this form of Chinese southern singing-narrative. It is hoped that this investigation will lead to further ethnomusicological studies on the various existing forms of Chinese singing-narratives, on which work has hardly begun.Arts, Faculty ofMusic, School ofIncludes some text in ChineseGraduat

Safety and efficacy of oral nemonoxacin versus levofloxacin in treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: A phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, active-controlled, non-inferiority trial

Background/Purpose: Nemonoxacin is a novel nonfluorinated quinolone with excellent in vitro activity against most pathogens in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), especially Gram-positive isolates. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of nemonoxacin compared with levofloxacin in patients with CAP. Methods: A phase 3, multicenter, randomized (2:1) controlled trial was conducted in adult CAP patients receiving nemonoxacin 500 mg or levofloxacin 500 mg orally once daily for 7–10 days. Clinical, microbiological response and adverse events were assessed. Non-inferiority was determined in terms of clinical cure rate of nemonoxacin compared with that of levofloxacin in a modified intention-to-treat (mITT) population. NCT registration number: NCT01529476. Results: A total of 527 patients were randomized and treated with nemonoxacin (n = 356) or levofloxacin (n = 171). The clinical cure rate at test-of-cure visit was 94.3% (300/318) for nemonoxacin and 93.5% (143/153) for levofloxacin in the mITT population [difference (95% CI), 0.9% (−3.8%, 5.5%)]. The microbiological success rate was 92.1% (105/114) for nemonoxacin and 91.7% (55/60) for levofloxacin in the bacteriological mITT population [difference (95% CI), 0.4% (−8.1%, 9.0%)]. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) was comparable between nemonoxacin (33.1%, 118/356) and levofloxacin (33.3%, 57/171) (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Nemonoxacin 500 mg once daily for 7–10 days is as effective and safe as levofloxacin for treating adult CAP patients in terms of clinical cure rates, microbiological success rates, and safety profile.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01529476. Keywords: Clinical outcome, Community-acquired pneumonia, Levofloxacin, Nemonoxacin, Randomized controlled trial, Safet