铁代谢与铁调素hepcidin

2005-2006 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Meta-analysis of scalp acupuncture for acute hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage

Objectives: Scalp acupuncture (SA) is a commonly used therapeutic approach for primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but the efficacy and safety of SA therapy are still undetermined. The aim of this study is to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of SA therapy for the treatment of acute hypertensive ICH. Methods: Literature reports with randomized controlled clinical trials and controlled clinical trials on SA therapy for acute hypertensive ICH were searched, and the efficacy and safety of SA therapy were evaluated by using the Cochrane systematic review methods. The primary outcome measures were death or dependency at the end of long-term follow-up (at least 3 months) and adverse events. The secondary outcome measure was neurological deficit improvement at the end of the treatment course. Results: Seven (7) independent trials (230 patients) were included in this study. All trials described the methods of randomization in which four trials had adequate concealment of randomization at the level of grade A, but no trial included sham acupuncture as a control group. None of the trials included "death or dependency" as a primary outcome measure. Four (4) trials contained safety assessments and stated that no adverse event was found, whereas the other three trials did not provide the information about adverse events. By using random effects statistical model, it was found that patients with acute hypertensive ICH who received SA therapy had significantly improved neurological deficit scores (Z=4.97, p<0.01). Conclusions: Although SA therapy is widely used to treat acute hypertensive ICH in TCM, the efficacy and safety of SA therapy remain to be further determined. No evidence is available on whether SA therapy can be used to treat acute ICH according to the primary outcome measure. However, SA therapy appears to be able to improve neurological deficit in patients with acute hypertensive ICH. © 2011, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.published_or_final_versio

Graph attention neural network for water network partitioning

Partitioning a water distribution network into several district metered areas is beneficial for its management. Partitioning a network according to its node features and connections remains a challenge. A recent study has realized water network partitioning based on node features or pipe connections individually. This study proposes an unsupervised clustering method for nodes based on a graph neural network, which uses graph attention technology to update node features based on the connections and a neural network to cluster nodes. The similarity between nodes located in each area and the balance of the total water demand between areas are optimized, and the importance of the boundary pipes is calculated to determine the installation position of flowmeters and valves. Three water distribution networks with different structures and sizes are used to verify the proposed model. The results show that the average location differences (LocDiffs) within the areas of the three networks completed by partitioning are 0.12, 0.07, and 0.06, and the total demand differences (DemDiffs) between areas are 0.13, 0.27, and 0.29, respectively. The LocDiff and DemDiff of the proposed method decreased by 6% and 55%, respectively, when compared to the traditional clustering method. Additionally, the proposed method for calculating the importance of boundaries provides an objective basis for boundary closure. When the same number of boundaries are closed, the comprehensive impact of the proposed method on the pipe network decreases by 17.1%. The proposed method can be used in practical applications because it ensures a highly reliable and interpretive water distribution network partitioning method

Nanowire Quantum Dot Surface Engineering for High Temperature Single Photon Emission

Generating single photons at high temperature remains a major challenge, particularly for group III-As and III-P materials widely used in optical communication. Here, we report a high temperature single photon emitter based on a “surface-free” GaAs quantum dot (QD) in a GaAsP nanowire. By using self-catalyzed vapor–liquid–solid growth and simple surface engineering, we can significantly enhance the optical signal from the QDs with a highly polarized photoluminescence at 750 nm. The “surface-free” nanowire quantum dots show photon antibunching up to 160 K and well resolved exciton lines as high as 220 K

Adsorption and reduction of palladium (Pd2+) by Bacillus licheniformis R08

Preliminary study on the mechanism of Pd2+ biosorption by resting cells of Bacillus licheniformis R08 biomass has been carried out by means of chemical kinetics and AAS, TEM, XRD and FTIR methods. The results showed that at 30degreesC and PH 3.5, when dry R08 biomass powder (800 mg/L) was mixed with Pd2+ (100 mg/L) for 45 min, the rate constant k of biosorption of Pd2+ attained a maximum of 5.97 x 10(-2) min(-1) and the half life period of the reaction reached 12 min. The part of Pd2+ adsorbed by R08 biomass was reduced to elemental, cell-bound Pd-0 at the same condition. The cell wall of R08 biomass was the primary location for accumulating Pd2+, and aldoses, i. e. hydrolysate of a part of polysaccharides on the peptidoglycan layer in the acidic medium, serving as the electron donor, in situ reduced the Pd2+ to Pd-0

Modelling Drosophila motion vision pathways for decoding the direction of translating objects against cluttered moving backgrounds

Decoding the direction of translating objects in front of cluttered moving backgrounds, accurately and efficiently, is still a challenging problem. In nature, lightweight and low-powered flying insects apply motion vision to detect a moving target in highly variable environments during flight, which are excellent paradigms to learn motion perception strategies. This paper investigates the fruit fly Drosophila motion vision pathways and presents computational modelling based on cuttingedge physiological researches. The proposed visual system model features bio-plausible ON and OFF pathways, wide-field horizontal-sensitive (HS) and vertical-sensitive (VS) systems. The main contributions of this research are on two aspects: (1) the proposed model articulates the forming of both direction-selective and direction-opponent responses, revealed as principalfeaturesofmotionperceptionneuralcircuits,inafeed-forwardmanner;(2)italsoshowsrobustdirectionselectivity to translating objects in front of cluttered moving backgrounds, via the modelling of spatiotemporal dynamics including combination of motion pre-filtering mechanisms and ensembles of local correlators inside both the ON and OFF pathways, which works effectively to suppress irrelevant background motion or distractors, and to improve the dynamic response. Accordingly, the direction of translating objects is decoded as global responses of both the HS and VS systems with positive ornegativeoutputindicatingpreferred-direction or null-direction translation.The experiments have verified the effectiveness of the proposed neural system model, and demonstrated its responsive preference to faster-moving, higher-contrast and larger-size targets embedded in cluttered moving backgrounds

Climate Variability and Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome Transmission in Northeastern China

Background: The transmission of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is influenced by climatic variables. However, few studies have examined the quantitative relationship between climate variation and HFRS transmission. ---------- Objective: We examined the potential impact of climate variability on HFRS transmission and developed climate-based forecasting models for HFRS in northeastern China. ---------- Methods: We obtained data on monthly counts of reported HFRS cases in Elunchun and Molidawahaner counties for 1997–2007 from the Inner Mongolia Center for Disease Control and Prevention and climate data from the Chinese Bureau of Meteorology. Cross-correlations assessed crude associations between climate variables, including rainfall, land surface temperature (LST), relative humidity (RH), and the multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index (MEI) and monthly HFRS cases over a range of lags. We used time-series Poisson regression models to examine the independent contribution of climatic variables to HFRS transmission. ----------- Results: Cross-correlation analyses showed that rainfall, LST, RH, and MEI were significantly associated with monthly HFRS cases with lags of 3–5 months in both study areas. The results of Poisson regression indicated that after controlling for the autocorrelation, seasonality, and long-term trend, rainfall, LST, RH, and MEI with lags of 3–5 months were associated with HFRS in both study areas. The final model had good accuracy in forecasting the occurrence of HFRS. ---------- Conclusions: Climate variability plays a significant role in HFRS transmission in northeastern China. The model developed in this study has implications for HFRS control and prevention

Persistence Parameter: a Reliable Measurement for Behavioral Responses of Medaka (Oryzias latipes) to Environmental Stress

Online monitoring systems provided a significant evidence for feasibility of the stepwise behavioral response model in detecting the effects of organophosphorus pesticides on movements of medaka (Oryzias latipes), being able to determine the state of indicator organisms, &quot;no effect,&quot; &quot;stimulation,&quot; &quot;acclimation,&quot; &quot;adjustment (readjustment),&quot; and &quot;toxic effect.&quot; Though the stepwise behavioral response model postulated that an organism displays a time-dependent sequence of compensatory stepwise behavioral response during exposure to pollutants above their respective thresholds of resistance, it was still a conceptual model based on tendency only in analysis. In this study, the phenomenon of bacterial persistence was used to interpret the relationship between the stepwise behavioral response model and the environmental stress caused by both exposure time and different treatments. Quantitative measurements of the stepwise behavioral response model led to a simple mathematical description of the threshold switch, which evaluated the effects of environmental stress on behavioral responses to decide the tendency. The adjustment ability correlated to &quot;persisters (p)&quot; is very important for test individuals to overcome the &quot;threshold&quot; from the outside environmental stress. The computational modeling results suggested that &quot;persister (p),&quot; as described in the general equations of bacterial persistence model in changing environments, illustrated behavior acclimation and adjustment (or readjustment) clearly. Consequently, the persistence parameter, p, was critical in addressing for medaka to be adapted to fluctuating environments under different environmental stress