The Unification of Nature and Human: From Cognition to Practice

Traditional Chinese civilization has had a long history of understanding the relationship between nature and human. The Chinese Ming dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue brought the cognition of "the unity of nature and human" into play by reconstructing Chinese medical theory and clinical practice thus achieving an important transition from cognition to practice. Based on the three main aspects of (i) holistic cognition and clinical application, (ii) yin-yang cognition and clinical application, and (iii) five elements-related cognition and clinical application, we further explore Zhang Jingyue's thoughts and applications from the cognition of "the unity of nature and human" to the practice of "the unity of knowledge and action" to provide reference and inspiration for the development of present-day medicine and even the progress of human civilization

The Unification of Nature and Human: From Cognition to Practice

Traditional Chinese civilization has had a long history of understanding the relationship between nature and human. The Chinese Ming dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue brought the cognition of "the unity of nature and human" into play by reconstructing Chinese medical theory and clinical practice thus achieving an important transition from cognition to practice. Based on the three main aspects of (i) holistic cognition and clinical application, (ii) yin-yang cognition and clinical application, and (iii) five elements-related cognition and clinical application, we further explore Zhang Jingyue's thoughts and applications from the cognition of "the unity of nature and human" to the practice of "the unity of knowledge and action" to provide reference and inspiration for the development of present-day medicine and even the progress of human civilization

Applications of iterative decoding to magnetic recording channels.

Finally, Q-ary LDPC (Q-LDPC) codes are considered for MRCs. Belief propagation decoding for binary LDPC codes is extended to Q-LDPC codes and a reduced-complexity decoding algorithm for Q-LDPC codes is developed. Q-LDPC coded systems perform very well with random noise as well as with burst erasures. Simulations show that Q-LDPC systems outperform RS systems.Secondly, binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are proposed for MRCs. Random binary LDPC codes, finite-geometry LDPC codes and irregular LDPC codes are considered. With belief propagation decoding, LDPC systems are shown to have superior performance over current Reed-Solomon (RS) systems at the range possible for computer simulation. The issue of RS-LDPC concatenation is also addressed.Three coding schemes are investigated for magnetic recording systems. Firstly, block turbo codes, including product codes and parallel block turbo codes, are considered on MRCs. Product codes with other types of component codes are briefly discussed.Magnetic recoding channels (MRCs) are subject to noise contamination and error-correcting codes (ECCs) are used to keep the integrity of the data. Conventionally, hard decoding of the ECCs is performed. In this dissertation, systems using soft iterative decoding techniques are presented and their improved performance is established

Cutting and Fracturing Models without Remeshing

Abstract. A finite element simulation framework for cutting and fracturing model without remeshing is presented. The main idea of proposed method is adding a discontinuous function for the standard approximation to account for the crack. A feasible technique is adopted for dealing with multiple cracks and intersecting cracks. Several involved problems including extended freedoms of finite element nodes as well as mass matrix calculation are discussed. The presented approach is easy to simulate object deformation while changing topology. Moreover, previous methods developed in standard finite element framework, such as the stiffness warping method, can be extended and utilized

Structural properties and Raman spectroscopy of lipid Langmuir monolayers at the air-water interface

Spectra of octadecylamine (ODA) Langmuir monolayers and egg phosphatidylcholine (PC)/ODA-mixed monolayers at the air-water interface have been acquired. The organization of the monolayers has been characterized by surface pressure-area isotherms. Application of polarized optical microscopy provides further insight in the domain structures and interactions of the film components. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) data indicate that enhancement in Raman spectra can be obtained by strong interaction between headgroups of the surfactants and silver particles in subphase. By mixing ODA with phospholipid molecules and spreading the mixture at the air-water interface, we acquired vibrational information of phospholipid molecules with surfactant-aided SERS effect.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Strong [O III] {\lambda}5007 Compact Galaxies Identified from SDSS DR16 and Their Scaling Relations

Green pea galaxies are a special class of star-forming compact galaxies with strong [O III]{\lambda}5007 and considered as analogs of high-redshift Ly{\alpha}-emitting galaxies and potential sources for cosmic reionization. In this paper, we identify 76 strong [O III]{\lambda}5007 compact galaxies at z < 0.35 from DR1613 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These galaxies present relatively low stellar mass, high star formation rate, and low metallicity. Both star-forming main sequence relation (SFMS) and mass-metallicity relation (MZR) are investigated and compared with green pea and blueberry galaxies collected from literature. It is found that our strong [O III] {\lambda}5007 compact galaxies share common properties with those compact galaxies with extreme star formation and show distinct scaling relations in respect to those of normal star-forming galaxies at the same redshift. The slope of SFMS is higher, indicates that strong [O III]{\lambda}5007 compact galaxies might grow faster in stellar mass. The lower MZR implies that they may be less chemically evolved and hence on the early stage of star formation. A further environmental investigation confirms that they inhabit relatively low-density regions. Future largescale spectroscopic surveys will provide more details on their physical origin and evolution.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Published in A

Elevated Foxp3+ double-negative T cells are associated with disease progression during HIV infection

Persistent immune activation, which occurs during the whole course of HIV infection, plays a pivotal role in CD4+ T cells depletion and AIDS progression. Furthermore, immune activation is a key factor that leads to impaired immune reconstitution after long-term effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), and is even responsible for the increased risk of developing non-AIDS co-morbidities. Therefore, it’s imperative to identify an effective intervention targeting HIV-associated immune activation to improve disease management. Double negative T cells (DNT) were reported to provide immunosuppression during HIV infection, but the related mechanisms remained puzzled. Foxp3 endows Tregs with potent suppressive function to maintain immune homeostasis. However, whether DNT cells expressed Foxp3 and the accurate function of these cells urgently needed to be investigated. Here, we found that Foxp3+ DNT cells accumulated in untreated people living with HIV (PLWH) with CD4+ T cell count less than 200 cells/µl. Moreover, the frequency of Foxp3+ DNT cells was negatively correlated with CD4+ T cell count and CD4/CD8 ratio, and positively correlated with immune activation and systemic inflammation in PLWH. Of note, Foxp3+ DNT cells might exert suppressive regulation by increased expression of CD39, CD25, or vigorous proliferation (high levels of GITR and ki67) in ART-naive PLWH. Our study underlined the importance of Foxp3+ DNT cells in the HIV disease progression, and suggest that Foxp3+ DNT may be a potential target for clinical intervention for the control of immune activation during HIV infection

Effectiveness of 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) vaccines: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The clinical effectiveness of monovalent influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccines has not been comprehensively summarised. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess vaccine effectiveness (VE) for adjuvanted and unadjuvanted vaccines. Methods: We searched healthcare databases and grey literature from 11 June 2009 to 12 November 2014. Two researchers independently assessed titles and abstracts to identify studies for full review. Random effects meta-analyses estimated the pooled effect size of vaccination compared to placebo or no vaccination for crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) to prevent laboratory confirmed influenza illness (LCI) and related hospitalization. VE was calculated as (1-pooled OR) ∗ 100. Narrative synthesis was undertaken where meta-analysis was not possible. Results: We identified 9229 studies of which 38 at moderate risk of bias met protocol eligibility criteria; 23 were suitable for meta-analysis. Pooled adjusted VE against LCI with adjuvanted and unadjuvanted vaccines both reached statistical significance (adjuvanted: VE = 80%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 59–90%; unadjuvanted: VE = 66%; 95% CI 47–78%); in planned secondary analyses, VE in adults often failed to reach statistical significance and pooled point estimates were lower than observed in children. Overall pooled adjusted VE against hospitalization was 61% (95% CI 14–82%); in planned secondary analyses, adjusted VE attained statistical significance in adults aged 18–64 years and children for adjuvanted vaccines. Adjuvanted vaccines were significantly more effective in children compared to adults for both outcomes. Conclusions: Adjuvanted and unadjuvanted monovalent influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccines were both effective in preventing LCI. Overall, the vaccines were also effective against influenza-related hospitalization. For both outcomes adjuvanted vaccines were more effective in children than in adults

Integrated genomic characterization of oesophageal carcinoma

Oesophageal cancers are prominent worldwide; however, there are few targeted therapies and survival rates for these cancers remain dismal. Here we performed a comprehensive molecular analysis of 164 carcinomas of the oesophagus derived from Western and Eastern populations. Beyond known histopathological and epidemiologic distinctions, molecular features differentiated oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas from oesophageal adenocarcinomas. Oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas resembled squamous carcinomas of other organs more than they did oesophageal adenocarcinomas. Our analyses identified three molecular subclasses of oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas, but none showed evidence for an aetiological role of human papillomavirus. Squamous cell carcinomas showed frequent genomic amplifications of CCND1 and SOX2 and/or TP63, whereas ERBB2, VEGFA and GATA4 and GATA6 were more commonly amplified in adenocarcinomas. Oesophageal adenocarcinomas strongly resembled the chromosomally unstable variant of gastric adenocarcinoma, suggesting that these cancers could be considered a single disease entity. However, some molecular features, including DNA hypermethylation, occurred disproportionally in oesophageal adenocarcinomas. These data provide a framework to facilitate more rational categorization of these tumours and a foundation for new therapies