Combined Detection of Mean Platelet Volume and Immunoglobins as a Strategy for the Diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Objective:To explore the possibility of diagnosing and monitoring patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using the combination of mean platelet volume (MPV) and routine immunoglobulin test. Method:116 patients with SLE were divided into 3 groups according to their clinical characteristics, including 29 patients with renal impairment, 44 cases of active stage and 43 cases of inactive patients. 40 healthy subjects were randomly selected as controls. Subjects were tested for routine blood test and plasma Immunoglobins, such as IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4, CH50, CRP. The results were analyzed and the characteristics of each group of subjects were determined, the correlation between test results and diagnosis were studied. Result: In comparison to the control group, the serum level of MPV, C3 and C4 were decreased (P<0.05), and C reactive protein level was elevated (P<0.001) in the three groups of SLE patients. The IgG level in active and inactive SLE patients was increased (P<0.0001), CH50 level was decreased in patients with inactive SLE (P<0.05), IgA level of active SLE subjects was found to be elevated (P<0.05), IgM in patients with renal impairment was decreased (P<0.05). Other than that, no other significant characteristic were found. Conclusion: The pathogenesis of SLE is a complex process involving multiple factors. The changes of MPV, IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4, CH50 and CRP in SLE patients are characteristic parameters. The combination of the above indicators can help to determine the diagnosis and staging of SLE. The timely diagnosis and treatment of SLE patients has important clinical significance in protecting the organ function of SLE patients and improving the prognosis

STORM-GAN: Spatio-Temporal Meta-GAN for Cross-City Estimation of Human Mobility Responses to COVID-19

Human mobility estimation is crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its significant guidance for policymakers to make non-pharmaceutical interventions. While deep learning approaches outperform conventional estimation techniques on tasks with abundant training data, the continuously evolving pandemic poses a significant challenge to solving this problem due to data nonstationarity, limited observations, and complex social contexts. Prior works on mobility estimation either focus on a single city or lack the ability to model the spatio-temporal dependencies across cities and time periods. To address these issues, we make the first attempt to tackle the cross-city human mobility estimation problem through a deep meta-generative framework. We propose a Spatio-Temporal Meta-Generative Adversarial Network (STORM-GAN) model that estimates dynamic human mobility responses under a set of social and policy conditions related to COVID-19. Facilitated by a novel spatio-temporal task-based graph (STTG) embedding, STORM-GAN is capable of learning shared knowledge from a spatio-temporal distribution of estimation tasks and quickly adapting to new cities and time periods with limited training samples. The STTG embedding component is designed to capture the similarities among cities to mitigate cross-task heterogeneity. Experimental results on real-world data show that the proposed approach can greatly improve estimation performance and out-perform baselines.Comment: Accepted at the 22nd IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 2022) Full Pape

In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Galla Chinensis Combined with Different Antibacterial Drugs against Carbapenem-Resistant E.Coli

Objective: To evaluate the antibacterial effects of meropenem and levofloxacin respectively combined with Galla chinensis on carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli in vitro. Methods： The protocol was designed with checkerboard method and the carbapenem-resistant E.coli was isolated in our hospital. The minimum inhibitory concentrations(MICs) of G. chinensis alone and combined with 2 antimicrobial agents against carbapenem-resistant E.coli were determined by broth dilution method and the fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) was calculated according to MICs results. Result： the combined use of G. chinensis and meropenem (or levofloxacin) significantly decreased both MIC50 and MIC90; After the combination of G. chinensis and meropenem, the synergistic effect was 86.7%, and the additive effect was 13.3%, no irrelevant and antagonistic effects. After combined use of G. chinensis and levofloxacin, the synergistic effect was 66.7%, and the additive effect was 33.3%. No irrelevant and antagonistic effects. Conclusion： Galla chinensis combined with meropenem or levofloxacin has synergistic and additive antibacterial effect, with certain combined antibacterial activity

Current Status on Leaching Precious Metals from Waste Printed Circuit Boards

AbstractCurrent research on leaching precious metals from waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) in the world is introduced. In the paper, hydrometallurgical processing techniques including cyanide leaching, thiourea leaching, thiosulfate leaching, and halide leaching of precious metals are addressed in detail. In order to develop an environmentally friendly technique for recovery of precious metals from Waste PCBs, a critical comparison of main leaching methods is analyzed based on three-scale analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results suggest that thiourea leaching and iodide leaching make more possible to replace cyanide leaching

Karar Ağacı Algoritması Kullanılarak Çin Topraklarındaki Orta Dereceli Okul Öğrencilerine İlişkin Jeo-Uzamsal Düşünme Yeteneğinin Tahmin Edilmesi

Predicting secondary school students' geospatial thinking ability can provide targeted guidance for teachers. To date, few scholars have focused on predicting students’ geospatial thinking ability. In this paper, we address this gap by constructing a prediction model based on the decision tree algorithm, to predict the geospatial thinking ability of secondary school students. A total of 1029 secondary school students were surveyed using the Spatial Thinking Ability Test, the Students' Geography Learning Status Questionnaire, and the Middle Students Motivation Test. Our model indicates that geospatial thinking ability can be predicted by nine factors, in order of importance: academic achievement in geography, geography learning strategy, geography classroom environment, gender, learning initiative, learning goals, extra-curricular time spent learning geography, ego-enhancement drive, and interest in learning geography. The model accuracy is 81.25%. Specifically, our study is the first to predict geospatial thinking ability. It provides a tool for teachers that can help them identify and predict students' geospatial thinking ability, which is conducive to designing better teaching plans and making adjustments to the curriculum.Orta dereceli okul öğrencilerinin jeo-uzamsal düşünme yeteneklerinin tahmin edilmesi öğretmenler için hedefe yönelik rehberlik sağlayabilir. Şimdiye kadar az sayıda bilim insanı, öğrencilerin jeo-uzamsal düşünme yeteneklerinin tahmin edilmesine odaklanmıştır. Bu makalede, orta dereceli okul öğrencilerinin jeo-uzamsal düşünme yeteneklerinin tahmin edilmesi amacıyla karar ağacı algoritmasına dayanan bir tahmin modeli oluşturarak bu boşluğu doldurmayı amaçlıyoruz. Uzamsal Düşünme Yeteneği Testi, Öğrencilerin Coğrafya Öğrenimi Durumu Anketi ve Orta Dereceli Okul Öğrencileri Motivasyon Testi kullanılarak toplam 1029 orta dereceli okul öğrencisine anket uygulanmıştır. Modelimiz, jeo-uzamsal düşünme yeteneğinin dokuz etmenle tahmin edilebileceğine işaret etmektedir. Önem sırasına göre bu etmenler; coğrafya dersindeki akademik başarı, coğrafya öğrenimi stratejisi, coğrafya sınıf ortamı, cinsiyet, öğrenme inisiyatifi, öğrenme hedefleri, coğrafya öğreniminde harcanan müfredat harici zaman, benlik geliştirme dürtüsü ve coğrafya öğrenimine ilgi şeklindedir. Model doğruluk oranı %81,25’tir. Özellikle, çalışmamız jeo-uzamsal düşünme yeteneğinin tahmin edilmesine yönelik ilk çalışmadır. Öğretmenlere öğrencilerin jeo-uzamsal düşünme yeteneklerini saptamalarına ve tahmin etmelerine yardımcı olabilecek bir araç sunan çalışmamız böylelikle daha iyi eğitim planları hazırlanmasında ve müfredatta düzenlemeler yapılmasında fayda sağlayacaktır

Effect of polarization sensitivity on ultrasmall SOI-based AWG for FBG sensor interrogation

Polarization sensitivity is an important factor that affects the interrogation of ultrasmall arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. An ultrasmall 1  ×  8 silicon-on-insulator (SoI) AWG with a core size of less than 530  μm  ×  480  μm is proposed in this study. This ultrasmall SoI AWG exhibits good transmission spectra and high polarization sensitivity. The increased channel numbers and tight structure increase the polarization sensitivity of AWG. Temperature interrogation experiments show that the FBG sensor interrogation is drastically affected when the effect of polarization sensitivity on the ultrasmall AWG is sufficiently large

Cross-cultural validation of the Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale (HPASS) in China

The study aimed to validate the Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale among medical staff in China. The validation was conducted in four steps from March to December 2017: translation and back-translation; content validity test with six experts; test–retest reliability testing with 63 medical staff with 2 weeks interval; and structural validation with 349 medical staff from 52 hospitals with a convenience sample,using exploratory factor analysis,including principal component analysis and varimax rotation. The scale content validity index average was 0.88, while for test–retest reliability, the ICC was 0.87. Three factors of “discrimination”, “prejudice” and “stereotype” with 16 items were extracted and explained 59.61% variance. The Cronbach’s alpha value for the total scale was of 0.88, and for the three factors, the values were 0.89, 0.86 and 0.74, respectively. The discrimination factor showed identical means between Canadian medical students and Chinese medical staff, while the prejudice and stereotype factors had higher mean scores in the Chinese sample. The three-factor structure of Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale was confirmed in Chinese medical staff with a simpler solution. This could provide a basis for trans-cultural application and comparison

Synthesis of surfactant-free Cu–Pt dendritic heterostructures with highly electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation reaction

A facile and free surfactant strategy is explored to synthesize Cu–Pt bimetallic nano-heterostructures with dendritic exterior. For comparison, the Cu–Pt coral-like nanoparticles are fabricated by using CTAC as a surfactant. The well-designed Cu–Pt dendritic spherical heterostructures exhibit superior enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability toward methanol oxidation reaction in alkaline media, compared to the Cu–Pt coral-like nanoparticles and the commercial Pt/C, respectively. The advanced technique for fabricating Cu–Pt dendritic spherical heterostructures could pave a way to pursue low-cost Pt-based catalysts, maintaining highly promoted electrocatalytic performance and durability