Exploring the core knowledge of business intelligence

With the rapid development of data analysis, there is few research on the core knowledge of business intelligence system (BIS). In order to fill this research gap, this paper collected the 1003 articles and 31345 references from the Web of Science database, and then applied co-citation analysis and factor analysis, to analyze their core knowledge. We identified 52 highly cited articles and obtained 9 core knowledge categories in the field of BI: BI success, IT acceptance and measurement, big data analysis,dataanalysis anddecision making,business strategy, BIS,consumer behavior, knowledge management, business adoption. Research shows that BISs are still in the growing trend and core knowledge helps researchers and managers better understand the core concepts and relevance of BI, so as to quickly discover possible research directionsinthisresearchfieldandusefulapplicationsintheenterprise

Treatment of berberine alleviates diabetic nephropathy by reducing iron overload and inhibiting oxidative stress

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) has become one of the major fatal factors in diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to elucidate the function and mechanism by which berberine exerts renoprotective effects in DN. In this work, we first demonstrated that urinary iron concentration, serum ferritin and hepcidin levels were increased and total antioxidant capacity was significantly decreased in DN rats, while these changes could be partially reversed by berberine treatment. Berberine treatment also alleviated DN-induced changes in the expression of proteins involved in iron transport or iron uptake. In addition, berberine treatment also partially blocked the expression of renal fibrosis markers induced by DN, including MMP2, MMP9, TIMP3, β-arrestin-1, and TGF-β1. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that berberine may exert renoprotective effects by ameliorating iron overload and oxidative stress and reducing D

Theory and application of mining mechanics and strata control

Studying the dynamic response of rock mass mining and strata control technology is of great significance for promoting safe and efficient coal production and ensuring stable energy supply. It is the theoretical basis for scientific mining of coal resources. Mine rock mass disasters (surrounding rock deformation, rock burst, etc.) occur frequently, and their formation-evolution-occurrence process is closely related to the evolution and distribution of mine-induced stress, strata movement, mine-induced disturbance and energy evolution. Based on the practical theory of ground pressure control, the progress and control criteria of strata control in the stope are presented. The mechanical models and design methods for quantitative analysis are established. Also, the targeted rock disaster control technology and the assorted equipment are innovatively developed. In the theory of mining mechanics and strata control, the strata control is divided into rock control in stope and surrounding rock control in roadway. The control or utilization of strata movement to change the conditions of disaster is proposed, and the criteria of “given deformation” and “limited deformation” are provided. The self-stabilization ability of surrounding rock can be changed by regulating the “3S” factors criteria (stress environment, structural properties, and support structure). With the goal of controlling rock mass disasters, the system of control and energy release with core of stress control in roadway surrounding rock is presented. The principle of rock mass disaster control considering stress and energy and the assessment criteria for weak surface (safety factor K and impact hazard factor U) are established. The ground pressure mechanical simulation test system in stope, the mining-induced stress test system, and the creep and dynamic disturbance impact loading test system are independently developed. The series equipment can realize the laboratory-scale reduction of the deformation-fracture-movement process of rock mass under the action of mine-induced stress, providing experimental equipment for studying the mechanical response of rock mass. Engineering case studies are conducted from four directions: rock control in the mining area, geological soft rock control, engineering soft rock roadway control, and rockburst control. The relevant research results are validated in engineering applications

Ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants used by Li people in Ledong, Hainan Island, China

The paper documents on the uses of traditional medicinal plants used for treating human ailments in three villages of Ledong, a county inhabited by Li ethnic group in the southwest of Hainan Province, China. Semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and participatory observations were used to collect ethnobotanical data from February to March 2012 and in July 2013. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Thirty native knowledgeable people were interviewed. The Li community uses 50 plant species in 36 families for medicinal purposes. The most common medicinal plant families were Leguminosae (14%), Compositae (6%), and Euphorbiaceae (6%), and the most common preparations methods were decoction (84%), crushing (38%), and poultice (34%). The traditional medicinal plants were mainly used for hemostasis (12.9%), body pains (11.4%), gastrointestinal disorders (11.4%), and trauma (10%). Twenty-four species of medicinal plants (48%) have never been reported in the literature of Li medicines. In addition, 22 species (44%) have already been studied by researchers and their extracts or compounds were good bio-actives. However, the rapid socio-economic development in the county is the main threat to the conservation of Li medicine and has resulted in the decrease in the abundance and use of medicinal plants and associated traditional knowledge. Other factors accounting for a decrease in the use of Li medicinal plants like loss of plant diversity, change of land use, and threatened traditional knowledge were equally discussed

DNA adducts of aristolochic acid II: total synthesis and site-specific mutagenesis studies in mammalian cells

Aristolochic acids I and II (AA-I, AA-II) are found in all Aristolochia species. Ingestion of these acids either in the form of herbal remedies or as contaminated wheat flour causes a dose-dependent chronic kidney failure characterized by renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis. In ∼50% of these cases, the condition is accompanied by an upper urinary tract malignancy. The disease is now termed aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN). AA-I is largely responsible for the nephrotoxicity while both AA-I and AA-II are genotoxic. DNA adducts derived from AA-I and AA-II have been isolated from renal tissues of patients suffering from AAN. We describe the total synthesis, de novo, of the dA and dG adducts derived from AA-II, their incorporation site-specifically into DNA oligomers and the splicing of these modified oligomers into a plasmid construct followed by transfection into mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Analysis of the plasmid progeny revealed that both adducts blocked replication but were still partly processed by DNA polymerase(s). Although the majority of coding events involved insertion of correct nucleotides, substantial misincorporation of bases also was noted. The dA adduct is significantly more mutagenic than the dG adduct; both adducts give rise, almost exclusively, to misincorporation of dA, which leads to AL-II-dA→T and AL-II-dG→T transversions

Dual Beneficial Effects of (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate on Levodopa Methylation and Hippocampal Neurodegeneration: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

A combination of levodopa (L-DOPA) and carbidopa is the most commonly-used treatment for symptom management in Parkinson's disease. Studies have shown that concomitant use of a COMT inhibitor is highly beneficial in controlling the wearing-off phenomenon by improving L-DOPA bioavailability as well as brain entry. The present study sought to determine whether (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a common tea polyphenol, can serve as a naturally-occurring COMT inhibitor that also possesses neuroprotective actions.Using both in vitro and in vivo models, we investigated the modulating effects of EGCG on L-DOPA methylation as well as on chemically induced oxidative neuronal damage and degeneration. EGCG strongly inhibited human liver COMT-mediated O-methylation of L-DOPA in a concentration-dependent manner in vitro, with an average IC50 of 0.36 microM. Oral administration of EGCG moderately lowered the accumulation of 3-O-methyldopa in the plasma and striatum of rats treated with L-DOPA+carbidopa. In addition, EGCG also reduced glutamate-induced oxidative cytotoxicity in cultured HT22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cells through inactivation of the nuclear factor kappaB-signaling pathway. Under in vivo conditions, administration of EGCG exerted a strong protective effect against kainic acid-induced oxidative neuronal death in the hippocampus of rats.These observations suggest that oral administration of EGCG may have significant beneficial effects in Parkinson's patients treated with L-DOPA and carbidopa by exerting a modest inhibition of L-DOPA methylation plus a strong neuroprotection against oxidative damage and degeneration

Applications of Disposable Pipette Extraction for Analysis of Drugs of Abuse Vitamin D Metabolism Testosterone and Inborn Errors of Metabolism by Gas and Liquid Chromatography/mass Spectrometry

To find a simple extraction procedure with high extraction efficiency for urinary organic acids with wide pKa range and polarity, two major ion exchange phases of weak cation and anion were experimented. For weak anion exchange, oxalic acid was found to irreversibly bind to the sorbent and small polar acid, uracil and thymine cannot be effectively extracted. For weak cation exchange, four extraction protocols were designed and results were discussed. Finally, an optimized, fast and simple solid phase extraction method was developed, which can simultaneously extract 33 urinary organic acids. The average recovery is 82.5%. A fast, simple and accurate liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed by using an efficient disposable pipette extraction (DPX) technique, which could simultaneously analyze 51 drugs within 6 minutes. The method has an accuracy of 97 to 107%; a precision of less than 20% including the lowest concentration, a sensitivity with the lower limits of quantification lower than the corresponding cut-off values, and a linearity with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.990. The method was also successfully cross validated by testing and comparing commercially available quality controls. Early diagnosis is critical for patients with organic acidemias. The diagnosis is based on the complex metabolite profile of each organic acidemia. As more and more definitive biomarkers were identified, the profiles were changing. The current chemical diagnosis profiles of Isovaleric academia, β-methylcrotonylglycinuria, propionic acidemia and methylmalonic acidemia were summarized for both MS/MS and GC/MS tests. A simple, accurate and fast sample clean-up method was developed by using DPX-WAX (weak anion extraction) resin. The method analyzed all major vitamin D metabolites including the frequently-ignored but important and tough structural isomer of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3. DPX extraction efficiency was high with over 90% recovery. Intra-day and inter-day precisions are less than 5% even at the lowest concentration range tested (1 ppb). The correlation coefficient for the straight line calibration relationship was 0.997, and the average accuracy over five concentration levels was 96.7%; for three independent QC samples at three concentration levels, the average accuracy was 99.4%. We developed a simple and fast DPX extraction procedure with average recovery of 101% and intra-day and inter-day precisions are less than 15% including the lowest concentration tested (10 ng/dl). The correlation coefficient for the straight line calibration relationship was over 0.999. The average accuracy over five concentration levels was from 97.5 to 105.6% and the accuracy of four independent quality control samples was from 96.9 to 113.6%