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Background: Health research reporting guidelines for case reports (CARE - CAse REport) published in 2013 and 2017 have become a generally accepted standard for publishing case reports. The CARE guidelines represent an architectural framework for writing an evidence-based case report that can be customized as need for a specialty (or disease) if needed. We aim to develop a CARE guideline extension for acupuncture following the EQUATOR Network (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) and the 2010″Guidance for Developers of Health Research Reporting". We have established a group of international experts including; clinicians, researchers and methodologists. We performed a needs assessment based on a review of acupuncture case reports published in the indexed medical literature. The needs assessment will be followed by (1) a series of expert interviews to establish a draft, (2) a modified Delphi process, and (3) a consensus meeting. Following the consensus meeting we will pilot test the CARE draft before publishing the CARE extension for acupuncture.Methods: We will develop the CARE extensions for acupuncture following recommendations of the EQUATOR Network and the 2010 "Guidance for Developers of Health Research Reporting". We will establish an international multidisciplinary group including clinical practitioners, acupuncturists, researchers of reporting guidelines on acupuncture, clinical epidemiologists and statisticians. We performed a needs assessment, reviewing published case reports using acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention from indexed medical journals (PubMed-PMC and Medline, Scopus, Embase, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Wan Fang database, Chinese BioMedicine database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and VIP). In consultations with advisors we will develop a draft of potential items to be included in the CARE extension for acupuncture. Then we will conduct a modified Delphi process of at least three rounds, hold a face-to-face consensus meeting, pilot test and submit the CARE extension for acupuncture for publication.Conclusion: The development of a widely accepted CARE extension for acupuncture for case reports published in indexed medical journals. These guidelines will follow the EQUATOR Network recommendations and the 2010 "Guidance for Developers of Health Research Reporting". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motion errors of hydrostatic guideways are mainly influenced by the geometric errors of guide rails and table which can be decomposed into harmonic waves of different frequencies based on Fourier transform. In this paper, a new approximate model is established to study the influence of geometric errors of guide rails and table on the motion errors of hydrostatic guideways using the equivalent third power of oil film thickness. It is found that, the motion errors are mainly affected by the geometric errors of guide rails rather than the geometric errors of table. The harmonic waves with wave numbers 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, …, on the guide rails have no influence on the center displacement of table, and the harmonic waves with wave numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, …, have no influence on the yaw angle of table. The increment of land width and decrement of distance of two adjacent pads will result in enhancement of comprehensive averaging effect in consideration of center displacement and yaw angle. The approximate formulas have sufficient calculation accuracy compared with FEM when the ratio between amplitude of harmonic wave and initial film thickness is small. Using a deformed guide rail with wave numbers 0.5 and 1, the results of experiments agree well with the results calculated by approximate formulas and FEM. In the experiments, a novel method is proposed to manufacture the single harmonic wave of guide rail in the scale of micron meters, through which the amplitude and wavelength of the harmonic wave on guide rail can be controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new approximate model is established in this paper to predict the radial error motions of hydrostatic journal bearings with different number of recesses under quasi-static condition. The formulas are based on the equivalent third power of film thickness. Definitions of averaging coefficients are made which directly illustrate the relationship among the radial error motions, the roundness errors of shaft and the structural parameters of bearing. It is found that the hydrostatic journal bearings with six recesses have advantage over the bearings with three, four and five recesses in the view of rotation accuracy when the shafts have same roundness errors. Experiments are done to give a proof to support the opinion that the trilobal roundness errors of shaft mainly affect the radial rotation accuracy for hydrostatic journal bearings with four recesses compared with the elliptical roundness errors of shaft, using a hydrostatic rotary table with an outer diameter of 320 mm. The novelty of this paper is that the theoretical approximate solution of averaging coefficients for hydrostatic journal bearings with different recesses are obtained and the main working harmonic components in roundness errors which have main influence on rotation accuracy are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new model using approximate formulas is established to predict the error motions of hydrostatic thrust bearings. Three different types of geometric errors of thrust plates are listed in this paper including tilt errors, saddle shaped errors and petal shaped errors. The influences of them on lateral tilt error motion, longitudinal tilt error motion and axial error motion are discussed. Definitions of averaging coefficients are made based on the approximate formulas. It is found that the time-varying tilt errors are the main reason for the error motions of hydrostatic thrust bearings. The thrust bearings with six pairs of recesses have priority over the thrust bearings with four and three pairs of recesses in the view of rotation accuracy. Experiments are done using a hydrostatic rotary table with an outer diameter of 2 m. It is found that the second harmonic errors are the main component of the radial run-out and the results agree well with the results calculated from the approximate formulas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Complementary and alternative therapy is widely used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A Chinese herbal medicine, JianPiYiFei (JPYF) II granules, have been shown to improve COPD patients' quality of life, however long-term effectiveness has not been examined.Purpose: To investigate whether long-term treatment with JPYF II granules is effective and safe for patients with stable, moderate to very severe COPD.Study Design and Methods: A multicentre, randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial was conducted. Eligible participants from six hospitals were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive either JPYF II granules or placebo for 52 weeks. The primary outcome was the change in St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score during treatment. Secondary outcomes included the frequency of acute exacerbations during treatment, COPD Assessment Test (CAT), 6-minute walking test (6MWT), lung function, body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnoea, exercise capacity (BODE) index, and peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) at the end of treatment.Results: A total of 276 patients (138 in each group) were included in the analysis. JPYF II granules led to a significantly greater reduction in SGRQ score (-7.33 points, 95% CI -10.59 to -4.07; p < 0.0001) which reflects improved quality of life. JPYF II granules improved CAT (-3.49 points, 95% CI -5.12 to -1.86; p < 0.0001) and 6MWT (45.61 metres, 95% CI 20.26 to 70.95; p = 0.0005), compared with placebo. Acute exacerbations were less frequent with JPYF II granules than with placebo (0.87 vs. 1.34 events per patient; p = 0.0043). There were no significant differences between the groups in lung function, BODE index and SpO2. JPYF II granules were well tolerated and no significant adverse effects were noted.Conclusions: Long-term treatment with JPYF II granules is effective in moderate to very severe COPD, improving quality of life and exercise capacity, decreasing the risk of acute exacerbation, and relieving symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The distribution of temperature is simulated using 3D finite element relocating mesh method (TDFERMM) for the third grader roller compacted concrete (TGRCC) dam with different material and different thickness of impervious layer, including conventional concrete (CC), grader-enrich-concrete (GEVRCC) and second grader roller compacted concrete (SGRCC) during construction period. The calculated results show that the different types of impervious layer have no impact on the temperature distribution of dam. However, the thickness of impervious layer has greatly influenced the temperature distribution of dam, and a conclusion can be drawn that the middle thickness from 3 to 5m of SGRCC impervious layer can meet the demand of temperature control for third grader roller compacted concrete (TGRCC) dam. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is thought to be a potential intervention in the treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of CHM or CHM combination therapy for COVID-19.Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis METHODS: We searched for relevant studies in the CNKI, CBM, Wanfang Data, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and other resources from their inception to April 15, 2020. Randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and case-control studies on CHM or CHM combination therapy for COVID-19 were included. Meta-analysis was performed according to the Cochrane Handbook.Results: Overall, 19 studies with 1474 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that the overall clinical effectiveness (OR = 2.67, 95% CI 1.83-3.89, I2 = 0%), improvement in the CT scan (OR = 2.43, 95% CI 1.80-3.29, I2 = 0%), percentage of cases turning to severe/critical (OR = 0.40, 95% CI 0.24-0.67, I2 = 17.1%), reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) negativity rate (OR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.06-6.17, I2 = 56.4%) and disappearance rate of symptoms (fever, cough, and fatigue) were superior by combined CHM treatment of COVID-19. However, there was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of length of hospital stay (WMD = -0.46, 95% CI -3.87 - 2.95, I2 = 99.5%), and rate of adverse effects (OR = 1.21, 95% CI 0.48-3.07, I2 = 43.5%). The quality of evidence was very low to low.Conclusion: The combined treatment of COVID-19 with Chinese and Western medicine may be effective in controlling symptoms and reducing the rate of disease progression due to low quality evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2017 International Standard for Reporting Items for practice Guideline in HealThcare (RIGHT) published reporting guidelines to enhance transparency and clarity in the process of developing clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). As there are some barriers in the applicability of these guidelines to acupuncture due to its specificity in terms of manipulations, locations and channels compared to other health care interventions, we aim to develop a specific reporting checklist for the development of CPGs on acupuncture. The study design will refer to the methodology recommended by the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) Network and will be modified as appropriate. We will conduct a literature review and establish an international multidisciplinary team, including a Development Group, a Delphi Panellists Group and an Advisory Group. We will run three rounds of modified Delphi surveys, face-to-face consensus meetings, consultations with advisors, pilot tests of the draft list of reports and promotion of the checklist. We plan to update regularly. The study is ongoing and there are no complete results. We will update it in time if there is any result. This work will be relevant to a broad range of CPGs addressing questions of reporting standards on CPGs on Acupuncture, which will have the following advantages: 1) To provide regulations for guideline developers; 2) To obtain more precise and clear guidelines for readers and clinical practitioners; and 3) To evaluate reporting quality of CPGs on acupuncture and improve transparency of research reports for editors and reviewers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypertension is one of the common diseases, which brings heavy burden to human race. Currently, western medication is in absolutely dominant position in the treatment of hypertension, but it maintains for a short time and there are various side effects and drug tolerance. Therefore, Chinese medicine has attracted great attention in the treatment field of hypertension, and angelica is one of the most frequently used herbs.Objectives: In order to give some inspiration to researches in these fields, this article presents the current research status of angelica and its compound formulas treating hypertension and its complications with evidence mapping.Methods: Main databases were systematically searched, and researches about angelica or its compound formulas containing angelica treating hypertension or its complications were included. EXCEL 2013 was used to integrate and process the data, and the result is showed intuitively with the bubble diagram.Results: 49 RCTs were included after screening. The articles recruited were published with a rising trend along with time. Of the 49 RCTs, there is the outcome measure of general the efficacy in the result part in 34 RCTs (69.4%), and all the clinical effective rate in the angelica intervention group is significantly higher than the control group. There is the outcome measure of reduction of MAP in the result part in 28 RCTs, and 27 RCTs (96.4%) showed that the angelica intervention group is significantly improved than the control group while 1 (3.6%) showed no significant differences. There is the outcome measure of efficacy of target organ protection in the result part in 26 RCTs, and 25 RCTs (96.2%) showed that there is significant difference between the angelica intervention group and the control group. Of the 49 RCTs, there is the outcome measure of adverse effects in the result part in 17 RCTs. 14 RCTs (82.4%) reported no adverse effects, 2 RCTs (11.8%) reported adverse effects rate as lower than 10%, and 1 RCT (7.1%) reported adverse effects rate as higher than 40%.Conclusion: Current research with low quality has revealed that angelica is effective in reduction of MAP and target organ protection and the adverse effects rate is low, and the effectiveness and safety of angelica needs to be proved by further researches with high quality. Researches of high quality are needed to provide scientific evidence for angelica in treating hypertension and its complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the 74th World Health Assembly, the WHO issued a strategy for the prevention and control of several major infectious diseases. To achieve the WHO-initiated targets for these infectious diseases, the elimination of mother-to-child transmission is essential. To date, a systematic review of the global and regional prevalence of infections with relevant mother-to-child transmission and outside the spectrum of congenital infections is lacking. We aimed to systematically review the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and syphilis in pregnant women. MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang database and China Biology Medicine disc database, and five WHO Regional Index Medicus databases. Original studies reporting the prevalence of infection or coinfection of HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis in pregnant women. This systematic review followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses 2020 checklist. We used random-effects models to generate pooled prevalence estimates for each infection. The global pooled prevalence in pregnant women of HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis was 2.9% (95% CI, 2.4–3.4%), 4.8% (3.8–5.8%), 1.0% (0.8–1.3%), and 0.8% (0.7–0.9%). The pooled prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis in low-income countries was higher than the global level (HIV: 5.2% [1.6–10.5%); HBV: 6.6% (5.4–7.9%); HCV: 2.7% (1.6–4.1%); syphilis: 3.3% (2.2–4.6%]). The pooled prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis in lower-middle-income countries was higher than the global level (HIV: 2.9% [0.8–6.1%]; HBV: 4.9% [3.8–6.1%]; HCV: 2.3% [1.2–3.6%]; syphilis: 1.5% [1.0–2.2%]). The prevalence of these infections among pregnant women was particularly high in resource-poor settings. The relevance and feasibility of current global practice guidelines for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of these infections in lower-middle-income countries must be evaluated, including timely access to screening and therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an approach to model and compensate the vertical straightness error of gantry type open hydrostatic guideways. The straightness error is measured at different measurement points on the beam using a laser interferometer. To investigate different trends in the straightness error, a static analysis model is established, based on the error averaging effect considering the guiderail profile error. The linear deviation of the slider is computed and the vertical straightness error is calculated using a least-square method. The simulation results indicate that the measurement points have a big impact on the straightness error. The minimum value appeared when measurement point located at the middle of the X beam. And more closer to Y guide rails, higher value will be. The positions of the measurement points are chosen according to the change trend of the vertical straightness error. Finally, vertical straightness error is compensated and the compensation results are compared between different coordinate values. Experimental results show that the straightness error model and error compensation strategy help to effectively improve the accuracy of gantry type open hydrostatic guideways in grinding machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-19 may be transmitted during a passenger flight. • Most confirmed cases were seated in the middle rows of economy class. • The prevalence of COVID-19 did not differ among passengers in different seats. • Passengers seated in the 2 rows in front of a confirmed case were at a higher risk of being infected. This study aims to investigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission on aircraft. We obtained data on all international flights to Lanzhou, China, from June 1, 2020, to August 1, 2020, through the Gansu Province National Health Information Platform and the official website of the Gansu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. We then performed the statistical analysis. Three international flights arrived in Lanzhou. The flights had a total of 700 passengers, of whom 405 (57.9%) were male, and 80 (11.4%) were children under the age of 14 years. Twenty-seven (3.9%) passengers were confirmed to have COVID-19. Confirmed patients were primarily male (17, 65.4%) with a median age of 27.0 years. Most confirmed cases were seated in the middle rows of economy class or near public facility areas such as restrooms and galleys. The prevalence of COVID-19 did not differ between passengers sitting in the window, aisle, or middle seats. However, compared with passengers sitting in the same row up to 2 rows behind a confirmed case, passengers seated in the 2 rows in front of a confirmed case were at a slightly higher risk of being infected. COVID-19 may be transmitted during a passenger flight, although there is still no direct evidence. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Motion errors of hydrostatic guideways are affected not only by the geometric errors of the guide rails but also by the speed of the table as well as the supply pressure. Currently, the mechanisms causing motion errors are studied under the condition that the table is moved at a low speed or incrementally. To make a more realistic prediction of motion errors, a new model is developed to analyse the straightness and the yaw of closed hydrostatic guideways with four pads. This model is based on the motion equations of the table and the Reynolds equation of the fluid film in the consideration of the fluid compressibility and the squeeze film effect. The results show that the influences of the table speed on the motion errors of the table are different at different wavelengths of geometric errors, and the motion errors are rarely affected by the supply pressure when the table operates at a low speed. Moreover, the influences of the table speed on the motion errors are smaller at higher supply pressure. Increasing the film thickness can reduce the motion errors of the table. Finally, validation experiments are conducted on a hydrostatic guideway with different speeds. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Hydrostatic guideways can obtain high motion accuracy due to their error averaging ability. In order to optimize the structural and accuracy design of hydrostatic guideways, the mechanism and affecting factors of the error averaging effect are investigated in detail in this paper. A new method is proposed to quantitatively analyze the motion errors of a typical closed hydrostatic guideway with four pads, and the restrictor is also taken into consideration. A hydrostatic guideway in an ultra-precision grinding machine LGF750 is analyzed with the method. The results show that the wavelength of each profile error component is a main affecting factor on the error averaging effect. Fluid films usually show obvious error averaging effect on each profile error component when the wavelength λ is shorter than twice of the pad length 2l u. However, for each component with the wavelength λ over 2l u, the error averaging effect becomes obvious only when the ratio of the pad length to the evaluation length of motion straightness l u/l e is greater than 0.5. Furthermore, the instability of the oil supply system is taken into consideration, and possible influences on the error averaging effect due to the supply pressure fluctuation are investigated preliminarily. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a new approach for the optimization analysis of ash dam slope stability calculation by using lattice method. A further study for the optimization design of ash dam cross section using exhaustion method is also provided. The numerical result analysis indicates that using combined optimization method of lattice and exhaustion to design ash dam cross section can achieve more stable result and decrease the time consuming of calculation, which improve the performance dramatically. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The failure mode of rolling bearings is closely related to its operating conditions. In this study, a batch of rolling bearings, which have failed after a certain service period under oil-air lubrication, were collected and the failure modes of the bearings were analyzed. A statistical analysis showed that abrasion and not fatigue is the main failure mode of the collected bearings. The main failure mode for the inner and outer rings of rolling bearings in oil-air lubrication was abrasion, burn-up, corrosion, fatigue and indentation respectively. The causes of abrasion, burn-up, fatigue, indentation and corrosion failure mode were analyzed by visual inspection and the elemental composition of the raceway material of the failed bearings was analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The domination of abrasion failure mode in rolling bearing under oil-air lubrication might be due to the existence of haze particles in the lubrication air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With rapid development of engineering numerical computation methods and extensive application of finite element analysis software, the demands of post-processing of calculation results are more and more high. The quality and efficiency of plotting contour map are important factors in analyzing of calculated results and in multi-schemed comparison. In this paper, automatic plotting of contour maps is achieved by realizing of compatibility of VB6.0, an embedded programming method in VB software, with Surfer 8.0, a powerful plotting function provided by Surfer software. Based on the approaching introduced in this paper, a batch processing visualization software for contour maps is developed. That can improve the efficiency of the post-processing of finite element analysis significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]