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Wenxia Ruan,1 Rui Liu,2 Huimin Yang,1 Jiajia Ren,2 Yonglin Liu2 1Clinical Laboratory, Shenmu Hospital, The Affiliated Shenmu Hospital of Northwest University, Shenmu, Shaanxi, 719300, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Science and Education, Shenmu Hospital, The Affiliated Shenmu Hospital of Northwest University, Shenmu, Shaanxi, 719300, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yonglin Liu, Department of Science and Education, Shenmu Hospital, The Affiliated Shenmu Hospital of Northwest University, Middle Section of Guangming Road, Shenmu, Shaanxi, 719300, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-13389120319, Email lylsmsyy@126.comBackground: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common allergic disease in otolaryngology. Its pathogenesis is still unclear. PLC1 plays a key role in calcium homeostasis and immune response, which is potentially related to AR. We aimed to explore the association between PLCL1 genetic loci and susceptibility to AR.Methods: We recruited 1975 volunteers to perform an association analysis through SNPStats online software. False-positive report probability (FPRP) analysis was used to detect whether the positive findings were worth noting. Linkage disequilibrium and haplotype analysis were completed through Haploview and SNPStats. The influence of SNP-SNP interaction on AR susceptibility was evaluated through multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR).Results: The results showed that four genetic loci in PLCL1 (rs2139049, rs212164068, rs2228135, and rs6738825) are associated with AR susceptibility under multiple genetic models. Allele “A” of PLCL1-rs2139049 (OR = 0.85, p = 0.031) or of -rs212164068 (OR = 0.85, p = 0.030), and allele “G” of PLCL1-rs6738825 (OR = 0.84, p = 0.022) are significantly associated with reduced AR risk. PLCL1-rs2228135 is associated with an increased risk of AR in males or participants older than 43 years of age. FPRP analysis showed that most of positive results are noteworthy findings. Three loci model composed of rs2139049, rs2164068, and rs2228135 is the best model for predicting AR risk (p = 0.0022). In addition, the haplotype “Grs2139049Ars6738825Ars2164068Ars2228135” (OR = 0.50, p = 0.033) can reduce the AR risk.Conclusion: Allele “A” of PLCL1-rs2139049, allele “A” of -rs212164068, and allele “G” of PLCL1-rs6738825 are protective factors of AR in Han population from northern Shaanxi, China.Keywords: allergic rhinitis, PLCL1, genetic loci, association analysis

To investigate the multiscale effects of freeze–thaw cycles on the mechanical properties and structural damage of paleosols, remodeled paleosol specimens at natural moisture content were subjected to multiple freeze–thaw cycles, followed by scanning electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) pore testing, and triaxial shear testing, and then the shear strength deterioration mechanism of paleosols was elaborated on from three aspects: fine, mesoscopic, and macroscopic. The main experimental results were as follows: (1) at the fine level, the NMR T2 spectrum distribution curve showed one primary and two secondary peaks, in which the main spectrum occupied the majority, and the spectrum area showed an exponential function distribution relationship with the number of freeze–thaw cycles. With the accumulation of freeze–thaw cycles, the medium and large pores increased significantly. (2) At the mesoscopic level, when the specimens underwent freeze–thaw cycles, the interparticle contact pattern and particle morphology changed and the particle roundness increased. As the freeze–thaw cycle continued, fissures gradually developed and increased the most after the first freeze–thaw cycle, but the probability entropy of soil particles showed a decreasing trend with the increase of the number of freez–thaw cycles. (3) At the macro level, the number of freeze–thaw cycles gradually accumulated, the specimen stress–strain curve softened significantly, the shear strength deterioration effect was obvious, the deterioration value was the largest after one freeze–thaw cycle and gradually stabilized after 10 cycles, and the deterioration effect of cohesion was greater than that of the internal friction angle.

Introduction Patients with advanced stage cancer usually have a higher tumor burden, and will always experience cancer-related and treatment-related symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms, mental, psychological and sleep disorder, which greatly reduces their quality of life and has been considered as a major challenge in health care. Nowadays, complementary therapy is popular in the treatment of cancer-related symptoms. Literatures on acupuncture for the relief of symptoms among advanced cancer patients have been increasing, but the results are not consistent. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the existing randomised and non-randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the up-to-date evidence of acupuncture for the management of cancer-related and cancer treatment-related symptoms among advanced cancer patients. Methods and analysis We will carry out a systematic review with meta-analysis based on Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guideline. A search of major databases including Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, SinoMed and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception through October 2020 will be conducted to identify RCTs of acupuncture management for symptoms among patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. Main outcomes will include cancer and treatment-related symptoms, quality of life, sleep quality and adverse events. DerSimonian & Laird random-effects meta-analysis will be applied to calculate pooled relative risks for binary data and pooled weighted mean differences (WMDs) or standardized mean differences (SMDs) for continuous data. Trial quality ratings and risk of bias will be evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. Ethics and dissemination This systematic review with meta-analysis does not require ethics approval. The data used here are abstracted from published literatures. We will be able to systematically determine whether acupuncture intervention will relieve symptoms induced by cancer palliative care and adjuvant therapy. Results of this systematic review will be submitted to international peer-reviewed journals, conferences and seminars regarding cancer care and treatment.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this survey was to explore the association of delivery mode with overweight and neurodevelopment of Chinese infants aged 1–5 months.Materials and methodsThis study was based on a cross-sectional survey. Data for this study were obtained from the Children’s Nutrition and Health System Survey in China which was conducted from 2019 to 2020. Characteristics of parents and children and the delivery mode were obtained using interview-administered questionnaires. Body mass index-for age z-score (BMI z) was calculated using World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards. Children’s neurodevelopment was assessed by a trained child health care physician using the Child Psychological Development Scale. The association of delivery mode with infant overweight was analyzed using a multivariable logistic regression model. We conducted a multivariable linear regression model to explore the relationship between delivery modes with neurodevelopment.ResultsIn total, the present analysis included 1,347 children aged 1–5 months, 35.61% were born via cesarean section, of which 15.21% were overweight. After adjustment for infant characteristics and parental factors, the cesarean section was significantly related with the likehood of being overweight [OR = 1.95; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.27 to 2.98]. Children born via cesarean section had a 3.41-point decrease in gross motor development (β = −3.41; 95% CI: −5.77 to −1.05), a 3.65-point decrease in fine motor development (β = −3.65; 95% CI: −6.03 to −1.28), and a 2.96-point in language development (β = −2.96; 95% CI: −5.20 to −0.73), a 1.65-point in total development (β = −1.65; 95% CI: −3.17 to −0.14) compared with those who were vaginal birth.ConclusionIn our study population, cesarean section was associated with overweight and neurodevelopment outcomes. The cesarean section might increase the likehood of infant overweight, and might decrease the developmental scores of gross motor, fine motor and language. Further studies should be conducted to verify the associations and explore the possible mechanisms.

BACKGROUND: For a traditional vision-based static sign language recognition (SLR) system, arm segmentation is a major factor restricting the accuracy of SLR. OBJECTIVE: To achieve accurate arm segmentation for different bent arm shapes, we designed a segmentation method for a static SLR system based on image processing and combined it with morphological reconstruction. METHODS: First, skin segmentation was performed using YCbCr color space to extract the skin-like region from a complex background. Then, the area operator and the location of the mass center were used to remove skin-like regions and obtain the valid hand-arm region. Subsequently, the transverse distance was calculated to distinguish different bent arm shapes. The proposed segmentation method then extracted the hand region from different types of hand-arm images. Finally, the geometric features of the spatial domain were extracted and the sign language image was identified using a support vector machine (SVM) model. Experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility of the method and compare its performance with that of neural network and Euclidean distance matching methods. RESULTS: The results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively segment skin-like regions from complex backgrounds as well as different bent arm shapes, thereby improving the recognition rate of the SLR system.

The walnut varieties in China are rich, the planting area in the country is wide, and the yield ranks at the forefront of the world. Walnut kernel is the most important application part of the walnut fruit. An in-depth study found that the by-products of walnut, such as green husk and walnut shell, also have great application potential and are cheap raw materials for the extraction of important medical ingredients and the production of industrial products. However, the by-products are often burned or discarded as waste during processing, which not only wastes resources but also causes environmental pollution. To realize the high value-added application of the walnut fruit, a deep processing of each part of the walnut should be considered. Preliminary processing is the key link before walnuts enter the field of intensive processing and consumption. The advanced level of the required technological equipment can help to determine the quality of the walnut products. The preliminary processing of walnuts in China is mainly divided into six steps: green husk removal, walnut drying, walnut size classification, walnut shell-breaking, walnut shell–kernel separation, and walnut kernel skin removal. This paper starts with a presentation of the importance of each link and the existing bottleneck. Then, the paper systematically discusses the analysis of the current situation and the development of devices required for each link. The working mechanism of each link type and its influence on the design of a corresponding device are summarized. On the basis of the corresponding working mechanism, this study classifies and summarizes the characteristics of the core mechanism of the devices for each preliminary process link; then, it evaluates and analyzes the existing typical mechanical devices according to their types. Finally, the influence rule of the various devices for each link in the preliminary processing is analyzed as a means of ensuring high-quality walnuts.

The protection device test of flexible DC transmission system is one of the difficult problems in the current protection device test. The field detection conditions of RTDS and other large-scale equipment are limited, and the traditional relay protection tester can not output high-frequency signal, so it is not suitable for the field detection of ultra-high-speed protection of flexible DC transmission line. There is no effective test method for the protection device test of flexible HVDC transmission system. Based on IEC60870-5-1 protocol of interface between test device and Xuji control and protection device, this paper develops a traveling wave ranging and traveling wave protection test device for flexible DC lines, including data preprocessing module and data format transformation module.

Rural highways are an important component of highway networks in developing countries. The high fatality rates of single-vehicle crashes in these highways recently attracted increasing attention. Given that most studies on the factors that affect the severity of single-vehicle crashes in rural highways were conducted in developing countries, the present study investigated this issue in a Chinese setting by analyzing the single-vehicle crash data of rural highways in Anhui Province, China from 2014 to 2017. First, in consideration of the unobserved heterogeneity of crash data, a method that combines latent class analysis (LCA) and binary logistic regression (BLR), which is called LC-BLR, was applied to identify the significant factors that affect the severity of single-vehicle crashes in rural highways. Second, the goodness-of-fit and prediction accuracy of the LC-BLR model and the BLR model were compared. Results revealed that the performance of the former was more satisfactory than that of the latter. Finally, countermeasures were proposed based on the analysis of the main factors that affect each sub-class crash in the LC-BLR model. The LC-BLR model results indicated that collision typewas significant in all three sub-class models considered in the analysis, but the effects on crash severity varied. Several variables (e.g., driving license state, time of week, driver age) demonstrated a significant effect in a specific sub-class model, thereby indicating that these factors were only effective in mitigating the crash severity of one sub-class. The findings of this study can facilitate the development of cost-effective policies or countermeasures for reducing the severity of single-vehicle crashes in rural highways.

Huimin Yang,* Xin Xin,* Hang Yu, Yandong Bao, Pengyu Jia, Nan Wu, Dalin Jia Department of Cardiology, The Central Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Dalin Jia; Nan WuDepartment of Cardiology The Central Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, 155th North of Nanjing Street, Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail jdl2001@126.com; imwunan@163.comPurpose: A high-fat diet (HFD) can lead to cardiac dysfunction, hypertrophy, and fibrosis. This study aimed to explore microRNA expression profiles in the myocardium of HFD-induced obesity rat.MaterialsandMethods: Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups, and fed with normal chow diet (NCD) or HFD for 20 weeks. Cardiac function was evaluated by echocardiography. Left ventricular myocardium was harvested to assess the extent of myocardial morphology alteration. MicroRNA expression was analyzed using Agilent miRNA microarray and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to validate the microarray data. ThemirdbV6 database was used to forecast themiRNA target genes. The role of microRNAs in palmitate-induced cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes was evaluated by loss- and gain-of-function experiments.Results: Significant changes in cardiac function, hypertrophy, fibrosis, and apoptosis were found in HFD rats as compared with NCD rats. miR-141-3p and miR-144-3p were also significantly upregulated in themyocardium of HFD-induced obesity rat. A series of genes involved in essential biological processes, including anatomical structure development and metabolic process, was targeted by these two miRNAs. These target genes were also implicated in signaling pathways involved in thePI3K-Akt signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, autophagy, and protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum. Inhibition of miR-141 or overexpression of miR-144 attenuated palmitate-induced cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. In contrast, overexpression of miR-141 or inhibition of miR-144 aggravated palmitate-induced cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis.Conclusion: This study identifies that miR-141 and miR-144 are candidate miRNAs associated with the development of HFD-induced cardiac dysfunction and structure alteration.Keywords: high-fat diet, obesity, microRNA, cardiac dysfunction, cardiac remodeling

Two Schiff-base fluorescent probes (1 and 2) were directly synthesized from natural cinnamaldehyde, and they were characterized by FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR, HRMS. Compound 1 had no fluorescence, while compound 2 could emit significant yellow fluorescence in solid and provide green light in solution. Probe 1 could selectively sense ClO− with a fluorescence enhancement, providing a good linear relationship between the fluoresence intensity and ClO− concentrations (0–5.5 × 10−5 mol/L), y = 175.64x-19.399, R2 = 0.9937, and the limit of detection (LOD) was 39.4 nM. Probe 2 was sensitive for Cu2+ by quenching with two linear relationships at the Cu2+ concentrations from 0 to 2.1 × 10−5 mol/L, LOD = 73.9 nM. Furthermore, live celluar imaging of human astrocytoma U-251 MG cells and human liver cancer cells (Hu-7) had achieved using the 1 + ClO− and 2, offering clear intracellular fluorescence. Finally, the 1 + ClO− and 2 could also be used to dye bamboo tissues for a good use. Thus, the cinnamaldehyde derivatives could be further used in the field of celluar and bamboo imaging.

With the development of urbanization, the heat island phenomenon has led to further deterioration of the urban thermal environment, resulting in wind environment differences. To study the thermal environment of the city, this paper takes the Busan area in South Korea as the research object and analyzes the connection between the layout of buildings and the wind environment based on the microscopic wind environment characteristics of the coastal area using CFD air-fluid simulation software and suggests that the monsoon influence brought by the coastal currents should be paid attention to, the layout of wind-oriented building groups should be improved, urban air ducts should be established to enhance the ventilation efficiency, and the wind environment of the urban public environment and buildings should be guaranteed. The wind environment quality of urban public environment and indoor environment should be ensured.

The microstructures of Ti-46Al, Ti-46Al-0.3B, Ti-46Al-0.5B, Ti-46Al-2Fe, Ti-46Al-2Fe-0.3B, and Ti-46Al-2Fe-0.5B alloys solidified on water-cooled copper crucible were investigated. It is found that the as-cast alloys possess a typical columnar structure, and the mean diameters of the columnar grains decrease significantly as the addition of Fe or B. The mean columnar diameter in Ti-46Al-2Fe-0.5B is found to be the smallest among these alloys. B addition can increase the constitutional supercooling in front of the solid-liquid interface, which refines the columnar structure and the dendritic structure. Moreover, Fe addition can enhance the refining effect of boron on the columnar structure of TiAl-based alloys.

Stomata were counted and measured. The planting densities affected stomatal densities and distributions. Stomatal densities increased as the planting densities changed from 1 to 1000 individuals·m~(-2), and decreased significantly at higher planting densities (10000 individuals·m~(-2)). The maximum stomatal density was found in the leaf base, while the minimum in the leaf apex. Stomatal distribution became more symmetrical with the increase of planting densities. Similar but more pronounced changes in stomatal densities and distributions were found in the drought stressed plants. Therefore, it is concluded that the changes in stomatal densities and distributions were the result of different water conditions induced by the planting densities.

In order to obtain excellent comprehensive mechanical properties, it is important to control the lamellar orientation of TiAl-based alloys by directional solidification technology. The control of the lamellar orientation is related closely with the primary phase during the directional solidification of TiAl-based alloys. The identification of the primary phase in directionally solidified TiAl-based alloys is insufficient only according to an isolated two-dimensional micrograph of the lamellar orientation. In this paper, we identified accurately the primary phase according to the quasi three-dimensional micrograph of the lamellar microstructure. The results indicate that the primary phase with various lamellar orientations is β phase during the directional solidification of Ti-50Al-5Nb alloy.

Tourist's revisit willingness is directly influenced by human environment nearby tourism area, it becomes more and more important to improve the tourism area human environment to develop the local tourism well. Based on the sampling survey data from surrounding residents of Maijishan, national 4A scenic spot in Tianshui city, this paper empirically analyzes the influencing factors about residents' participation willingness to "Improving Tourist Area Human Environment” (hereinafter referred to as ITAHE) training by establishing logistic regression model. Research shows that the most obvious influence factors of training participation willingness are: residents' gender, education level, acceptable training expenses, cognition of relationship between local tourism and economic development; Factors such as residents' age and family numbers and so on have no significant effect on residents' training participation willingness. It is concluded by improving residents' cognition level that tourism can not only promote local economic development level, but also increase their incomes, and training for free, which are helpful to guide residents to participate in the training, so as to promote local tourism health, sustainable development.

To study the association between the changes of weight, family history and hypertension at different ages, a pair-matched case-control study was conducted in the outpatient service of department of internal medicine in Binjiang Hospital of Tianjin from 1994 to 1996. The cases were selected from 312 patients with hypertension diagnosed during 1994-1996 and identified newly in the survey. The controls were selected from other outpatients of no cardiovascular disease histories matched by age and sex. The conditional logistic regression model was used. The cases and controls were divided into two age groups under 59 years old, 60 and older. History of hypertension in the first degree-relatives was linked to hypertension, but family history of hypertension of groups under age 59, and at 60 and older was mainly hypertension history of parents and siblings, respectively. Other risk factors of developing hypertension were higher weight or body mass index (kg/m2) in the survey, higher degree of weight gain in comparison with the basic weight and early age at beginning weight gain in all two groups. However, the risk of developing hypertension for increasing weight and obesity increased with advancing age groups. The study further indicates that controlling body weight, decreasing the degree of weight gain, and delaying the beginning age of weight gain all contribute to the lower risk of suffering from hypertension and were effective measures of hypertension of the prevention and cure. Asia Pac J Public Health 2001; 13(2): 96-99

A speech code/decode algorithm which combines MBE and LPC speech model is proposed. In this model, the spectral envelope is represented using Linear Prediction Coefficients, which are coded using Line Spectrum Frequencies (LSFs). It can operate at 2.4 kbps with much higher quality of synthesised speech than LPC-10e and less computation complexity than CELP, VSELP and so on. Therefore it is particularly attractive for VLSI implementation.