Search

Objectives To compare the differences in antibiotic use between COPD and non-COPD residents, and to explore the effect of COPD on antibiotic use. Methods Participants aged 40 years old or over from the Songjiang Adult Cohort were included. Information on prescription and baseline survey was collected based on the health information system. A logit-negative binomial Hurdle model was used to explore correlations between COPD and percentage of antibiotic use and average rate of antibiotic prescribing of different types of antibiotic. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the association between COPD and antimicrobial combination therapy and routes of administration. Results A total of 34576 individuals were included and 1594 (4.6%) were COPD patients. During the 6 years' follow-up, the percentage of antibiotic use for COPD patients was 98.4%, which was 7.88 (95%CI: 5.24–11.85) times of that for non-COPD patients after adjusting for potential confounders. The prescribing rate was 3220 prescriptions (95%CI: 3063.6–3385.2) per 1000 person-years for COPD patients, which was 1.96 (95%CI: 1.87–2.06) times of that for non-COPD patients. Other beta-lactam antibacterials, Macrolides, lincosamides and streptogramins, and quinolone antibacterials were the most commonly used types of antibiotic. Except for aminoglycoside antibacterials, both percentage of antibiotic use and rate of antibiotic prescription were increased in COPD patients. COPD patients were more likely to be prescribed a maximum of two antibiotics (OR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.20–1.50); and were more likely to use antibiotics intravenously (OR=2.77, 95%CI: 2.47–3.11). Conclusion COPD patients were more likely to have increased antibiotic use in a large-scale population-based adult cohort, suggesting COPD patients are a high-priority group for the management of antibiotic use in communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let D be a digraph. The competition graph of D is the graph having the same vertex set with D and having an edge joining two different vertices if and only if they have at least one common out-neighbor in D. The phylogeny graph of D is the competition graph of the digraph constructed from D by adding loops at all vertices. The competition/phylogeny number of a graph is the least number of vertices to be added to make the graph a competition/phylogeny graph of an acyclic digraph. In this paper, we show that for any integer k there is a connected graph such that its phylogeny number minus its competition number is greater than k. We get similar results for hypergraphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate several antipodal spherical designs on which we can choose half of the points, one from each antipodal pair, such that they are balanced at the origin. In particular, root systems of type A, D and E, minimal points of the Leech lattice, and the unique tight 7-design on S22 are studied. We also study a half of an antipodal spherical design from the viewpoint of association schemes and spherical designs of harmonic index T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is an enzyme consisting of three subunits: a scaffolding A subunit, a regulatory B subunit and a catalytic C subunit. PP2As were shown to play diverse roles in eukaryotes. In this study, the function of the Arabidopsis PP2A-C5 gene that encodes the catalytic subunit 5 of PP2A was studied using both loss-of-function and gain-of-function analyses. Loss-of-function mutant pp2a-c5-1 displayed more impaired growth during root and shoot development, whereas overexpression of PP2A-C5 conferred better root and shoot growth under different salt treatments, indicating that PP2A-C5 plays an important role in plant growth under salt conditions. Double knockout mutants of pp2a-c5-1 and salt overly sensitive ( sos) mutants sos1-1, sos2-2 or sos3-1 showed additive sensitivity to NaCl, indicating that PP2A-C5 functions in a pathway different from the SOS signalling pathway. Using yeast two-hybrid analysis, four vacuolar membrane chloride channel (CLC) proteins, AtCLCa, AtCLCb, AtCLCc and AtCLCg, were found to interact with PP2A-C5. Moreover, overexpression of AtCLCc leads to increased salt tolerance and Cl− accumulation in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. These data indicate that PP2A-C5-mediated better growth under salt conditions might involve up-regulation of CLC activities on vacuolar membranes and that PP2A-C5 could be used for improving salt tolerance in crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discrete element method (DEM) is commonly used to study various powders in motion during transportation, screening, mixing, etc.; this requires several microscopic parameters to characterize the complex mechanical behavior of the particles. Herein, a new discrete element parameter calibration method is proposed to calibrate the ultrafine agglomerated powder (recycled polyurethane powder). Optimal Latin hypercube sampling and virtual simulation experiments were conducted using the commercial DEM software; the microscopic variables included the static friction coefficient between the particles, collision recovery coefficient, Johnson–Kendall–Roberts surface energy, static friction coefficient between the particles and wall, and collision recovery coefficient. A predictive model based on genetic-algorithm-optimized feedforward neural network (back propagation) was developed to calibrate the microscopic DEM simulation parameters. The cycle search algorithm and mean-shift cluster analysis were used to confirm the input parameters' range by comparing the mean value of the dynamic angle of repose measured via the batch accumulation test. These parameters were verified by the baffle lifting method and the rotating drum method. This calibration method, once successfully developed, will be suitable for use in a variety of fine viscous powder dynamic flow conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a synthesis method of epoxy resin toughening agent was presented, then the chemical composition and molecular number were studied, which include the DSC curves analysis, the fracture surface morphology and bonding strength. In addition, the mechanism of epoxy resin toughening agent and the effect of toughening agent's content to bonding strength were studied. The testing results reveal that this toughening agent can form a micro two-phase structure in epoxy-amine system, which results in the stable chemical properties and excellent physical properties.