A clinical study of drugs associated with acute kidney injury in the Chinese population

Purpose: To carry out a study aimed at comprehensive identificat6ion of classes of drugs which cause acute kidney injury (AKI).Methods: A total of 110,508 patients enrolled in Weihai Central Hospital, Weihai, Shandong, China between March 2014 to April 2018 were asked to provide information on comprehensive prescription drug coverage including antivirals, antibiotics, NSAIDs, diuretics and anti-cancer drugs. Only the active user  of these classes of drugs were included in the study. Daily prescription dose, duration, date and time of each drug were recorded. Furthermore, the characteristics and other conditions of the patients such as hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes, liver disease,  angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), alpha-receptor blockers, beta-receptor blockers, and calcium channel-blockers were included.Results: A total of 1230 patients presented with AKI during the first 60 days of follow-up, while 1546 (58 %) patients were diagnosed with AKI in the secondary endpoint. Indomethacin, valacyclovir, fluorouracil, levofloxacin, ibuprofen and rofecoxib produced higher frequencies of AKI than the control drug, celecoxib. Indomethacin (OR = 2.97 ; 95 % CI= 1.94 - 3.89) and valacyclovir (OR = 2.85 ; 95 % CI = 1.56 - 3.42) were mostly responsible for AKI, followed by rofecoxib (OR = 2.48 ; 95 % CI = 2.32 - 2.71), fluorouracil (OR = 2.58 ; 95 % CI = 1.94 - 3.11), ibuprofen (OR = 1.68 ; 95 % CI = 1.28 - 2.21) and levofloxacin (OR = 1.58 ; 95 % CI = 1.48 - 2.73), in that orderConclusion: This study has identified various classes of drugs which frequently induced AKI. Therefore, physicians should exercise caution in prescribing these drugs, and should consider other medicines to minimize the risk of AKI. Keywords: Acute kidney injury, Antiviral, NSAID, Toxicit

Synthesis and optical properties of composite films from P3HT and sandwich-like Ag-C-Ag nanoparticles

This document is the Accepted Manuscript of the following article: Lingpeng Yan, Yamin Hao, Xiaoting Feng, Yongzhen Yang, Xuguang Liu, Yongkang Chen, and Bingshe Xu, ‘Synthesis and optical properties of composite films from P3HT and sandwich-like Ag–C–Ag nanoparticles’, RSC Advances, Vol. 5(97): 79860-79867, 2015, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA16854F. Content in the UH Research Archive is made available for personal research, educational, and non-commercial purposes only. Unless otherwise stated, all content is protected by copyright, and in the absence of an open license, permissions for further re-use should be sought from the publisher, the author, or other copyright holder.Sandwich-like Ag-C-Ag nanoparticles (Ag-C-Ag NPs) were synthesized under mild hydrothermal conditions in a one-step method. With this approach, Ag was not only encapsulated in the centre of an individual carbon nanosphere, but was also uniformly dispersed within the carbon matrix up to the sphere's shell. Then, poly(3-hexylthiophene):Ag-C-Ag NPs (P3HT:Ag-C-Ag NPs) composite films were prepared by a spin coating method with a chlorobenzene solution of Ag-C-Ag NPs and P3HT. Both morphology and microstructure of Ag-C-Ag NPs were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The possible formation mechanism was proposed. The results have indicated that the Ag-C-Ag NPs present many functional groups and their energy levels match with those of P3HT. It has been observed that an introduction of Ag-C-Ag NPs to P3HT can induce broad and high-absorbing spectra as well as great photoluminescence quenching of P3HT. It is evident that sandwich-like Ag-C-Ag NPs have a great potential to be a new acceptor material in photovoltaic devices.Peer reviewe

The impact of evidence type and message framing on promoting HPV vaccination in online health communities

Message features and type are crucial in health-related communication, especially due to the potential impact these messages can have on an individual's health. This study uses a 2 ' 2 experimental design (evidence type: statistical evidence vs. narrative evidence; message framing: gain-framed message vs. loss-framed message), to investigate how evidence type and message framing affect the attitudes, health beliefs, and intentions of college students in online health communities, regarding getting the HPV vaccination. Preliminary results (N=300) indicated that; (1) evidence type and message framing both influence attitudes and intentions significantly; Statistical evidence will lead to more favorable views than narrative evidence, and loss-framed messages will lead to more favorable views than gain-framed messages. (2) Concerning the interactions, we used construal level theory and found that, for gain-framed message, narrative evidence will lead to more favorable attitudes, free intentions, perceived benefits and barriers of HPV vaccination than statistical evidence; for loss-framed message, statistical evidence will lead to more favorable attitudes, intentions, perceived seriousness, benefits and barriers of HPV vaccination than narrative evidence

Research on health service system of smart communities for older adults

Smart community provides opportunities to develop the elder care system with information technologies for elderly people. Most existing studies on elder care system are from the macro level and there lacks practical development in this area, especially has ignored diversified elderly people’s health needs. This study tried to investigate the elderly people’s health needs by conducting interviews in two smart communities (Sanli community and Tieli community in Hefei city, Anhui province). We have interviewed 16 older adults and 16 of their grown-up children in the communities. With the help of Nvivo12, health needs about elderly people are coded into 57 free nodes and 8 tree nodes elderly people, which are further divided into four aspects based on the social support angle, information needs, instrument needs, substance needs, and emotion needs. Finally, we developed the health service system of smart communities from the subjects and functions of social support perspective. Through this study, we can better understand health needs of older adults and provide references for the development of health services in smart communitie

A consistent species richness–climate relationship for oaks across the Northern Hemisphere

Aim Although the effects of climate on species richness are known, regional processes may lead to different species richness–climate relationships across continents resulting in species richness anomalies, especially for tropical groups. Phylogenetic niche conservatism may also influence species richness–climate relationships of different lineages. Here, we tested whether regional effects also exist for temperate lineages using the genus Quercus. Location Northern Hemisphere. Time period Present day. Major taxa studied Quercus (Fagaceae). Methods We used a dated phylogeny and distribution data for Quercus to evaluate its global species richness patterns and phylogenetic niche conservatism. To evaluate the consistency in species richness–climate relationships across continents of the genus Quercus as a whole and the temperate subgenus Quercus, we conducted analyses of covariance with continent as the categorical variable and climate variables as the covariate. We calibrated four widely used models using the global data or data from each continent separately and evaluated the predictive power of each model for different continents using the root mean squared error. Results The relationships between species richness and climate were not significantly different among continents for both the genus Quercus as a whole and the subgenus Quercus. Unlike the models based on European data, those based on North American and eastern Asian data predicted both the global species richness and the richness in other continents. The species richness of a subtropical subgenus Cyclobalanopsis was most influenced by water availability, while that of a temperate subgenus Quercus was most influenced by environmental temperature. Main conclusions In contrast to the subtropical subgenus Cyclobalanopsis, our results showed a consistent richness–climate relationship and absence of regional effects on species richness across continents for the temperate subgenus Quercus, likely suggesting that the species richness of temperate lineages, for example subgenus Quercus, may have reached equilibrium with the contemporary climate in the Northern Hemisphere.publishedVersio

Expression and Clinical Significance of mTOR and PTEN in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Background and objective It has been proved that mTOR was an important signal transduction molecular and protein kinase regulating cell growth and proliferation, and mTOR could activate the downstream protein effector. PTEN could negatively regulate mTOR signal pathway and inhibit its activity. The aim of this study is to detect the mRNA expression levels of mTOR and PTEN gene, which are the key genes of mTOR signaling pathway in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissue. The relationship between mTOR signaling pathway and NSCLC is also explored. Methods Lung cancer tissue specimens were obtained from 65 patients. Adjacent-tumor non-small cell lung cancer tissues from the 30 patients were served as control. The RT-PCR technique was used to detect the mTOR and PTEN gene expression levels. Results The average mRNA expression levels of mTOR gene were significantly higher (0.23±0.16) in lung cancer than in adjacent-tumor tissue (0.12±0.09)(P < 0.01). The average mRNA expression levels of PTEN gene were (0.19±0.28) in lung cancer, while the mRNA expression levels of PTEN gene were (0.53±0.28) in adjacent-tumor tissue (P < 0.01). The levels of PTEN gene expression in non-small cell lung cancer were significantly lower than that in adjacent-tumor lung tissue. There are not significant relationship between mTOR and PTEN gene expression levels and patients’ age, gender, pathological type, differentiation, lymph node metastasis, except tumor size. Conclusion The expression of mTOR is activated in NSCLC. The expression of PTEN is absent or decreased. The mTOR activated in NSCLC may be correlate with the absent or decreased of PTEN. The absent or decreased expression of PTEN and the actived mTOR may play important roles in carcinogenesis and metastasis of NSCLC

A Retrospective Paired Study: Efficacy and Safety of Nimotuzumab Combined with Radiochemotherapy in Locoregionally Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of nimotuzumab in combination with radiochemotherapy as the primary treatment in patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma from September 2012 to December 2016. 188 newly diagnosed patients with stage III–IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma were treated with at least 1-2 cycles of chemotherapy concurrently with planned IMRT. 88 patients received nimotuzumab 200 mg/week. Acute and late radiation-related toxicities were graded according to the Acute and Late Radiation Morbidity Scoring Criteria of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Results: After 3 months of treatment, the complete response rates of nasopharyngeal tumors in the study group and the control group were 78.4% and 65.5%, respectively (?2=4.070, P=0.044). The total complete response rates of cervical lymph nodes in the study group and the control group were 80.7% and 67.6% respectively (?2=4.022, P=0.045).The median cycle for nimotuzumab addition was 6.3 weeks. With a median follow-up of 36.3 months (range, 12–72 months), the estimated 3-year progression failure-free survival and overall survival rates for the study group and the control group were 85.24% vs 81.97% and 96.67% vs 90.0%, respectively. The 3-year local recurrence-free survival rates for the study group and the control group were 96.67% vs 83.60%, respectively (P=0.047). Grade 3 radiation-induced mucositis accounted for 36.4% of treated patients. No skin rash and infusion reaction were observed, distinctly from what is reported in control patients. Conclusion: Nimotuzumab plus chemoradiotherapy in the treatment of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma showed promising outcomes in terms of locoregional control, without increasing the incidence of radiation-related toxicities for patients

A machine learning predictive model to detect water quality and pollution

The increasing prevalence of marine pollution during the past few decades motivated recent research to help ease the situation. Typical water quality assessment requires continuous monitoring of water and sediments at remote locations with labour-intensive laboratory tests to determine the degree of pollution. We propose an automated water quality assessment framework where we formalise a predictive model using machine learning to infer the water quality and level of pollution using collected water and sediments samples. Firstly, due to the sparsity of sample collection locations, the amount of sediment samples of water is limited, and the dataset is incomplete. Therefore, after an extensive investigation on various data imputation methods’ performance in water and sediment datasets with different missing data rates, we chose the best imputation method to process the missing data. Afterwards, the water sediment sample will be tagged as one of four levels of pollution based on some guidelines and then the machine learning model will use a specific technique named classification to find the relationship between the data and the final result. After that, the result of prediction can be compared to the real result so that it can be checked whether the model is good and whether the prediction is accurate. Finally, the research gave improvement advice based on the result obtained from the model building part. Empirically, we show that our best model archives an accuracy of 75% after accounting for 57% of missing data. Experimentally, we show that our model would assist in automatically assessing water quality screening based on possibly incomplete real-world data