580 research outputs found

    The height variance range for one frequency fringe pattern profilometry

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    The upper limit on the deepest step of the surface shape that can be accurately determined is an important performance measure associated with the fringe projection profilometry. This metric is evaluated as the variance of height between two adjacent pixels on a fringe patterns reflected from the object surface. This paper presents novel results on this metric based on the Nyquist sampling theorem originally developed in the area of communication theory. Compared to existing results, we indicate that the fringe width and digital image resolution also affect the height variance range significantly. This new result could be used to increase the measurement range for projection system

    ALECE: An Attention-based Learned Cardinality Estimator for SPJ Queries on Dynamic Workloads (Extended)

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    For efficient query processing, DBMS query optimizers have for decades relied on delicate cardinality estimation methods. In this work, we propose an Attention-based LEarned Cardinality Estimator (ALECE for short) for SPJ queries. The core idea is to discover the implicit relationships between queries and underlying dynamic data using attention mechanisms in ALECE's two modules that are built on top of carefully designed featurizations for data and queries. In particular, from all attributes in the database, the data-encoder module obtains organic and learnable aggregations which implicitly represent correlations among the attributes, whereas the query-analyzer module builds a bridge between the query featurizations and the data aggregations to predict the query's cardinality. We experimentally evaluate ALECE on multiple dynamic workloads. The results show that ALECE enables PostgreSQL's optimizer to achieve nearly optimal performance, clearly outperforming its built-in cardinality estimator and other alternatives.Comment: VLDB 202

    Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and bone mineral density among children and adolescents in a Northwest Chinese city

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    Although vitamin D is essential for bone health, little is known about prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and low bone mineral density (BMD) among children, especially those in developing countries. It also remains unclear whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is associated with BMD among children. We investigated these questions among children and adolescents in Yinchuan (latitude: 38° N), Ningxia, an economically underdeveloped province in Northwest China. A total of 1582 children (756 boys and 826 girls), aged 6–18 years, were recruited from schools using the stratified random sampling method in fall 2015. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and BMD was quantified by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Vitamin D deficiency (defined as serum 25(OH)D ≤ 37.5 nmol/L) was present in 35.5% of study subjects. There were no clear patterns of differences in serum 25(OH)D concentrations across the four age groups compared (6–9 years, 10–13 years, 14–16 years, and 17–18 years). The prevalence of low total body less head (TBLH) BMD (defined as a Z-score of ≤ −2.0 standard deviations away from the mean BMD values of the Chinese pediatric reference population) among children examined was 1.8% and was not significantly different among the four age groups considered. Linear regression analysis revealed that age, weight, and height were significantly and positively associated with TBLH BMD and that the strongest determinant of TBLH BMD was age in boys and weight in girls. There were no significant correlations between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and BMD obtained for total body and at various skeletal sites (r ranged from −0.005 to 0.014) regardless of whether children evaluated were sufficient, insufficient, or deficient in vitamin D. In conclusion, more than one-third of children and adolescents in a Northwest Chinese city were deficient in vitamin D but only <2% of them developed low BMD

    Air pollution, residents’ concern and commercial health insurance’s sustainable development

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    As Chinese residents are increasingly concerned about environmental and health issues, the importance of commercial health insurance has come to the fore. Therefore, it is necessary to study the relationship and mechanism between air pollution and commercial health insurance. This paper empirically analyzes the impact and mechanism of air pollution on the sustainable development of Chinese commercial health insurance. The analysis is conducted using the IV-probit and IV-tobit models with thermal inversion as the instrumental variable for air pollution, with Chinese households as the study population and 2018 as the study period. The results show that PM2.5 concentration has a positive and significant effect on both household participation in commercial health insurance and the level of participation, and that residents’ concern is an important channel linking air pollution and commercial health insurance, where pollution reporting plays a negative transmission role, protective behaviors play a positive transmission role, and healthy depreciation plays a positive transmission role. The results of this study contribute to the comprehensive development of China’s social security system and the sustainable development of the commercial health insurance market

    EVD Surgical Guidance with Retro-Reflective Tool Tracking and Spatial Reconstruction using Head-Mounted Augmented Reality Device

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    Augmented Reality (AR) has been used to facilitate surgical guidance during External Ventricular Drain (EVD) surgery, reducing the risks of misplacement in manual operations. During this procedure, the pivotal challenge is the accurate estimation of spatial relationship between pre-operative images and actual patient anatomy in AR environment. In this research, we propose a novel framework utilizing Time of Flight (ToF) depth sensors integrated in commercially available AR Head Mounted Devices (HMD) for precise EVD surgical guidance. As previous studies have proven depth errors for ToF sensors, we first conducted a comprehensive assessment for the properties of this error on AR-HMDs. Subsequently, a depth error model and patient-specific model parameter identification method, is introduced for accurate surface information. After that, a tracking procedure combining retro-reflective markers and point clouds is proposed for accurate head tracking, where head surface is reconstructed using ToF sensor data for spatial registration, avoiding fixing tracking targets rigidly on the patient's cranium. Firstly, 7.580±1.488mm7.580\pm 1.488 mm ToF sensor depth value error was revealed on human skin, indicating the significance of depth correction. Our results showed that the ToF sensor depth error was reduced by over 85%85\% using proposed depth correction method on head phantoms in different materials. Meanwhile, the head surface reconstructed with corrected depth data achieved sub-millimeter accuracy. Experiment on a sheep head revealed 0.79mm0.79 mm reconstruction error. Furthermore, a user study was conducted for the performance of proposed framework in simulated EVD surgery, where 5 surgeons performed 9 k-wire injections on a head phantom with virtual guidance. Results of this study revealed 2.09±0.16mm2.09 \pm 0.16 mm translational accuracy and 2.97±0.91∘2.97\pm 0.91 ^\circ orientational accuracy

    PO-062 Acute exercise intervention combined with metformin’s influences on glucose homeostasis in T2D mice

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    Objective Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a common chronic diseases prevailing in the world and the amount of diabetic and pre-diabetic patients is increasing gradually. Exercise combined with hypoglycemic drug is the first recommended therapy to treat type 2 diabetes. Metformin was found from galegine in 1957 and has been used now as the first cheap and effective hypoglycemic guanidines. Our study aims to explore the effects of different ways of acute exercise intervention combined with high dose of metformin on glucose homeostasis and its relative molecular mechanisms in type 2 diabetic mice. Methods Adopt 4-week high fat diet (HFD, 45% fat content) and one-time STZ (Streptozocin, 100mg/kg) intraperitoneal injection to build type 2 diabetic mice. There are 84 mice in total, 24 mice were divided into three groups: normal control (NC) group, normal acute resistance training (NCR) group and normal acute endurance training (NCE) group, N=8 each group, they were fed normal chow. The rest 60 mice were fed HFD as T2D modeling group. 48 mice were developing type 2 diabetes and they were divided into 6 groups: diabetic control (DC) group, diabetic acute resistance training (DCR) group, diabetic acute endurance training (DCE) group, high dose of metformin control (HMC) group, high dose of metformin combined with acute resistance training (HMR) group and high dose of metformin combined with acute endurance training (HME) group, N=8 each group. Acute resistance training is climbing 1 meter ladder from down to up, 5 times a group, 3 groups in total, monitoring the glucose change with extracting mouse tail vein blood during each group, using ACCU-CHEK monitor. Acute endurance training is running at the speed of 18 m/min on the platform for 50 minutes and blood glucose change was monitored every 10 minutes by extracting mouse tail vein blood. HMC, HMR and HME group mice were intraperitoneally injected high dose of metformin (200mg/kg) one hour before the acute exercise intervention. Comparatively, NC, NCR, NCE, DC, DCR, DCE group mice were intraperitoneally injected 0.9% saline one hour before the acute exercise intervention. ELISA, RT-PCR and Western Blot were used to evaluate relative serum indicators, mRNA and protein expression of regulating blood glucose homeostasis. Results 1) 4-week high fat diet and one time 100mg/kg Streptozocin intraperitoneal injection induces mice to develop type 2 diabetes. The fasting blood glucose, IPGTT, ITT, glucose AUC and insulin AUC of T2D group mice are significantly higher than NC group. 2) Compared with DCR group, the blood glucose value and fluctuation of HMR group mice are both significantly decreased, but the blood glucose value of DCR and HMR group mice are significantly higher than NCR group. In the same way, the blood glucose value and fluctuation of HME group mice is lower than DCE group and the whole blood glucose level of both group are higher than NCE group. Acute resistance training and acute endurance training combined with high dose of metformin have not affected the weight of type 2 diabetic mice. Hence compared with HMC group, the eWAT (epididymal white adipose tissue) of HMR and HME group mice is significantly declined. 3) Compared with NC group, the indicators of serum glucose, GSP (glycosylated serum protein), serum TG and serum T-CHO of DC group are notably increased, further reflect that the success model of type 2 diabetic mice. Compared with HMC group, the indicators of serum glucose, GSP, serum TG and serum T-CHO of HMR group mice are notably decreased, in the mean time, the indicators of serum glucose and serum TG of HME group mice are significantly declined. Interestingly, the serum insulin of HME group mice is notably lower than HMR group. 4) Compared with DC group, the indicators of mRNA expression about hepatic gluconeogenesis key rate-limiting enzymes PEPCK and G6pase of HMC group are significantly declined, but mRNA expression of regulating hepatic glucose homeostasis GLUT2 of HMC group is notably raised. Compared with HMC group, G6Pase mRNA expression of HMR and HME group is significantly escalated and Fbp mRNA expression of both groups are significantly declined. Compared with HMC, the indicators of mRNA expression about regulating hepatic glucose homeostasis GLUT2 and Gck of HMR and HME group mice show opposite trend, the former is down and the latter is up. Compared with HMC group, PEPCK mRNA expression of HMR group mice is notably escalated. Compared with HMR group, PEPCK and G6Pase mRNA expression of HME group mice are notably raised. 5) In the liver, there is a signaling pathway of AMPKα-PGC-1α-CREB to regulate glucose homeostasis and hepatic gluconeogenesis. Our study find that compared with HMC group, AMPKα2, PGC-1α and CREB mRNA expression of HMR and HME group mice are notably increased and only AMPKα1 mRNA expression of HMR group mice is significantly increased. Conclusions 1) Acute resistance training and acute endurance training combined with high dose of metformin can effectively reduce glucose fluctuation during exercise in type 2 diabetic mice, therefore these two way can both improve glucose homeostasis during acute exercise intervention in type 2 diabetic mice. 2) Acute resistance training and acute endurance training combined with high dose of metformin can improve serum glucose and lipid metabolism in type 2 diabetic mice, but acute resistance training combined with high dose of metformin are better to improve serum lipid metabolism. 3) Acute exercise intervention combined with high dose of metformin can comparatively increase hepatic gluconeogenesis key rate-limiting enzymes PEPCK and G6Pase and regulating hepatic glucose transport Gck mRNA expression. In the opposite, these two ways inhibit the other hepatic gluconeogenesis key rate-limiting enzyme Fbp and regulating hepatic glucose transport GLUT2 mRNA expression. 4) Compared with acute endurance training combined with high dose of metformin, acute resistance training combined with high dose of metformin can better improve glucose homeostasis and hepatic gluconeogenesis in type 2 diabetic mice via the signaling pathway of AMPKα-PGC-1α-CREB

    Bone Mineral Density Reference Standards for Chinese Children Aged 3-18: Cross-Sectional Results of the 2013-2015 China Child and Adolescent Cardiovascular Health (CCACH) Study

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    Objectives: No nationwide paediatric reference standards for bone mineral density (BMD) are available in China. We aimed to provide sex-specific BMD reference values for Chinese children and adolescents (3-18 years). Methods: Data (10 818 participants aged 3-18 years) were obtained from cross-sectional surveys of the China Child and Adolescent Cardiovascular Health in 2015, which included four municipality cities and three provinces. BMD was measured using Hologic Discovery Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) scanner. The DXA measures were modelled against age, with height as an independent variable. The LMS statistical method using a curve fitting procedure was used to construct reference smooth cross-sectional centile curves for dependent versus independent variables. Results: Children residing in Northeast China had the highest total body less head (TBLH) BMD while children residing in Shandong Province had the lowest values. Among children, TBLH BMD was higher for boys as compared with girls; but, it increased with age and height in both sexes. Furthermore, TBLH BMD was higher among US children as compared with Chinese children. There was a large difference in BMD for height among children from these two countries. US children had a much higher BMD at each percentile (P) than Chinese children; the largest observed difference was at P50 and P3 and the smallest difference was at P97. Conclusions: This is the first study to present a sex-specific reference dataset for Chinese children aged 3-18 years. The data can help clinicians improve interpretation, assessment and monitoring of densitometry results

    New trends in diagnosing and treating ovarian cancer using nanotechnology

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    Ovarian cancer stands as the fifth most prevalent cancer among women, causing more mortalities than any other disease of the female reproductive system. There are numerous histological subtypes of ovarian cancer, each of which has distinct clinical characteristics, risk factors, cell origins, molecular compositions, and therapeutic options. Typically, it is identified at a late stage, and there is no efficient screening method. Standard therapies for newly diagnosed cancer are cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy. The difficulties of traditional therapeutic procedures encourage researchers to search for other approaches, such as nanotechnology. Due to the unique characteristics of matter at the nanoscale, nanomedicine has emerged as a potent tool for creating novel drug carriers that are more effective and have fewer adverse effects than traditional treatments. Nanocarriers including liposomes, dendrimers, polymer nanoparticles, and polymer micelles have unique properties in surface chemistry, morphology, and mechanism of action that can distinguish between malignant and normal cells, paving the way for targeted drug delivery. In contrast to their non-functionalized counterparts, the development of functionalized nano-formulations with specific ligands permits selective targeting of ovarian cancers and ultimately increases the therapeutic potential. This review focuses on the application of various nanomaterials to the treatment and diagnosis of ovarian cancer, their advantages over conventional treatment methods, and the effective role of controlled drug delivery systems in the therapy of ovarian cancer

    Caloric restriction delays age-related muscle atrophy by inhibiting 11β−HSD1 to promote the differentiation of muscle stem cells

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    IntroductionCalorie restriction (CR) is an important direction for the delay of sarcopenia in elderly individuals. However, the specific mechanisms of CR against aging are still unclear.MethodsIn this study, we used a CR model of elderly mice with muscle-specific 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (11β-HSD1) knockout mice and 11β-HSD1 overexpression mice to confirm that CR can delay muscle aging by inhibiting 11β-HSD1 which can transform inactive GC(cortisone) into active GC(cortisol). The ability of self-proliferation and differentiation into muscle fibers of these mouse muscle stem cells (MuSCs) was observed in vitro. Additionally, the mitochondrial function and mitochondrial ATP production capacity of MuSCs were measured by mitochondrial oxygen consumption.ResultsIt was found that the 11β-HSD1 expression level was increased in age-related muscle atrophy. Overexpression of 11β-HSD1 led to muscle atrophy in young mice, and 11β-HSD1 knockout rescued age-related muscle atrophy. Moreover, CR in aged mice reduced the local effective concentration of glucocorticoid (GC) through 11β-HSD1, thereby promoting the mitochondrial function and differentiation ability of MuSCs.ConclusionsTogether, our findings highlight promising sarcopenia protection with 40% CR in older ages. Furthermore, we speculated that targeting an 11β-HSD1-dependent metabolic pathway may represent a novel strategy for developing therapeutics against age-related muscle atrophy

    Resting-State Activity of Prefrontal-Striatal Circuits in Internet Gaming Disorder: Changes With Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Predictors of Treatment Response

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    Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is effective for the treatment of Internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, the mechanisms by which CBT improves IGD-related clinical symptoms remain unknown. This study aimed to discover the therapeutic mechanism of CBT in IGD subjects using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI). Twenty-six IGD subjects and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) received rsfMRI scan and clinical assessments; 20 IGD subjects completed CBT and then were scanned again. The amplitude of low-frequency (ALFF) values and the functional connectivity (FC) between the IGD group and the HC group were compared at baseline, as well as the ALFF values and FC before and after the CBT in the IGD group. Prior to treatment, the IGD group exhibited significantly increased ALFF values in the bilateral putamen, the right medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), the left postcentral gyrus, and the left anterior cingulate (ACC) compared with the HC group. The HC group showed significantly increased FC values between the left medial OFC and the putamen compared with the IGD group, the FC values of IGD group were negatively associated with the BIS-11 scores before treatment. After the CBT, the weekly gaming time was significantly shorter, and the CIAS and BIS-II scores were significantly lower. The ALFF values in the IGD subjects significantly decreased in the left superior OFC and the left putamen, and the FC between them significantly increased after the CBT. The degree of the FC changes (ΔFC/Pre−FC) was positively correlated with the scale of the CIAS scores changes (ΔCIAS/Pre−CIAS) in the IGD subjects. CBT could regulate the abnormal low-frequency fluctuations in prefrontal-striatal regions in IGD subjects and could improve IGD-related symptoms. Resting-state alternations in prefrontal-striatal regions may reveal the therapeutic mechanism of CBT in IGD subjects
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