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Background. Over the past two decades, scarlet fever has resurged in some countries or areas. Nationwide nonpharmaceutical interventions changed the patterns of other infectious diseases, but its effects on the spread of scarlet fever were rarely studied. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in scarlet fever incidence in Zhejiang Province, China, before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic periods and to provide references for scarlet fever prevention and control. Methods. Scarlet fever surveillance data in Zhejiang, China (2004–2022), were analyzed in three stages. Two‐sample z test, ANOVA, and Tukey's test were used to compare and analyze the characteristics of disease spread at different stages. The ARIMA model was used to predict the overall trend. The data were obtained from the National Infectious Disease Reporting Information System. Results. A total of 28,652 cases of scarlet fever were reported across Zhejiang Province during the study period, with the lowest average monthly incidences in 2020 (0.111/100,000). The predominant areas affected were the northern and central regions of Zhejiang, and all regions of Zhejiang experienced a decrease in incidence in 2020. The steepest decline in incidence in 2020 was found in children aged 0–4 years (67.3% decrease from 23.8/100,000 to 7.8/100,000). The seasonal pattern changed, with peak occurrences in April to June and November to January during 2004–2019 and 2021 and a peak in January in 2020. The median duration from diagnosis to confirmation was highest before COVID‐19 (4 days); however, it decreased to 1 day in 2020–2022, matching the other two medians. Conclusions. In 2020, Zhejiang experienced an unprecedented decrease in scarlet fever, with the lowest incidence in nearly 18 years, but it rebounded in 2021 and 2022. The seasonal epidemiologic characteristics of scarlet fever also changed with the COVID‐19 outbreaks. This suggested that nationwide nonpharmaceutical interventions greatly depressed the spread of scarlet fever. With the relaxation of non‐pharmaceutical intervention restrictions, scarlet fever may reappear. Government policymakers should prioritize the control of future scarlet fever outbreaks for public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A class of fourth-order boundary value problems with transmission conditions are investigated. By constructing we prove that these class of fourth order problems consist of finite number of eigenvalues. Further, we show that the number of eigenvalues depend on the order of the equation, partition of the domain interval, and the boundary conditions (including the transmission conditions) given.

Summary: Although xylose is the secondary dominant sugar derived from biomass, the conversion of xylose to energy products is quite challenging. In this work, a new exoelectrogenic yeast strain (Cystobasidium slooffiae strain JSUX1) that can generate electricity in microbial fuel cell (MFC) by using xylose as the substrate was isolated and identified. After adaptation, it produced significant current output with rapid xylose metabolism. More surprisingly, this strain produced hydrogen gas either in anerobic flask incubation or in MFC, which delivered a 67 mW/m2 power output and 23 L/m3 hydrogen gas in MFC with xylose as fuel. Further electrochemical analysis indicated that riboflavin was secreted by this strain as the electron mediator for efficient electron transfer between cells and electrode in MFC. This is the first microorganism identified that can simultaneously produce bio‐hydrogen and bio‐electricity from xylose, which would diversify the toolbox of biomass energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dynamic heterogeneous and multihop (DHMH) wireless health monitoring system (WHMS) as a three-tier semi-self-organizing health monitoring network was presented. From bottom to top, the first tire of the network is the mobile data acquisition layer (DAL), the second tire of the network is the data transporting layer (DTL), and the third tire of the network is the data collection layer (DCL). A RF power control based topology management mechanism is proposed to balance the network load and to improve the network throughput. A lightweight hierarchical routing protocol (LHRP) was designed to reduce the transmission delay and improve the network throughput. For the mobile DAL nodes, the seamless mobile access mechanism (SMAM) was designed to ensure the low packet loss ratio. To evaluate the network performance, the end-to-end delay, the averaged reception ratio, and the network throughput of the DHMH were tested and the results proved that the network performance of the DHMH was improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Following successful guidewire passage, inability to cross the occluded lesion with a balloon is the most common cause of procedural failure for percutaneous recanalization of chronic total occlusions (CTOs). We sought to evaluate the efficacy of 'wire-cutting' technique for facilitating the balloon passage through the lesion during CTO-percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods: Sixteen consecutive patients with CTOs were treated by 'wire-cutting' technique when a lubricious balloon could not be passed through the lesion after successful guidewire crossing. The main process of the 'wire-cutting' technique involved: inserting 2 percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) guidewires (A and B) into the distal true lumen; advancing a balloon over guidewire A to the site of the occlusion abutting the proximal cap, the balloon was then inflated and guidewire B was pressed between the balloon and the proximal cap; rapidly withdrawing guidewire B produced a cutting power that crushed the proximal cap thus facilitating balloon crossing. Technique success was defined as balloon having crossed CTO lesions successfully after performing wire-cutting procedure. Results: Both technical success and procedural success were obtained in 10 (62.5%) cases. Technique failure occurred in 6 (37.5%) cases, of which 2 were due to the inability to place a second guidewire into the distal true lumen and the other 4 were due to severe coronary calcification. Of these 4 failures, 2 have final procedure success with the use of Rotablator and the remaining 2 patients were referred for bypass surgery. Major complication included severe coronary dissection that occurred in 1 (6.3%) patient, which was successfully treated by stenting. No other complications were observed. Conclusion: The wire-cutting technique may be considered as a simple and effective approach for facilitating balloon crossing resistant CTO lesions. (J Interven Cardiol 2012;25:297-303) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]