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Aims. We investigated whether self-monitoring of blood glucose could be used to assess dawn phenomenon in Chinese people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods. A total of 306 people with T2DM underwent continuous glucose monitoring and self-monitoring of blood glucose for 72 h. A linear model was used to fit the optimal linear formula of the magnitude of dawn phenomenon (ΔDawn) and self-monitoring of blood glucose values.Results. The prevalence of dawn phenomenon was similar within different oral antidiabetic drug groups (42.5%, 31.5%, and 40.9%,P=0.216). Multiple variable linear regression showed that prebreakfast, prelunch, and predinner glucose measurements were independently and significantly correlated with ΔDawn. The linear formula between ΔDawn and blood glucose was as follows:ΔDawn mg/dL=0.557×prebreakfast−0.065×prelunch−0.164×predinner−20.894 mg/dL(adjustedR2=0.302,P=0.000).Conclusions. Dawn phenomenon could be partly assessed by blood glucose self-monitoring in Chinese people with T2DM using the abovementioned formula. The incidence of dawn phenomenon was similar among patients in different oral antidiabetic drug groups.

Objective To develop an age-based weight estimation rule in a Chinese population and to compare its performance with existing formulae. Design Population-based observational study. Setting Schools and kindergartens in Hong Kong. Subjects Healthy Chinese children aged 1–10 years old on their last birthday. Interventions Weight was measured to the nearest 0.2 kg. Main outcome measures Linear regression was used to derive a simple formula relating weight to the child's age on his or her last birthday. The accuracy and precision of different age-based weight formulae was compared using coefficient of variation, Bland Altman plots, and by determining the proportion of children with estimates >30% outside the actual weight. Results The Chinese Age Weight Rule is a simple linear formula that is more accurate than and at least as precise as any other age-based weight estimation rule: weight in kg=(3×age last birthday)+5. It is accurate and precise in children

It has been suggested that the static lateral response procedure for a base-isolated structure presented in the International Building Code (IBC) somewhat overestimates the seismic storey force. In this paper an IBC-equivalent static method for base-shear distribution of seismic isolated structures is evaluated. The results of the equivalent static procedure in the vertical distribution of base shear are compared with results obtained from dynamic linear and nonlinear analysis and the efficiency of its application is studied. In general, the results of the equivalent lateral response procedure in the proposed triangular distribution of base shear are somewhat conservative. Based on linear and nonlinear analysis results of isolated structures, therefore, two new formulae are proposed for the vertical distribution of the base shear. The proposed linear formula is based on the first mode shape of the isolated structure and the nonlinear formula follows three first mode shapes, which imply contribution of higher modes in a more realistic nonlinear analysis. The accuracy of the new formulae is examined by comparing the results obtained from this study with those calculated from linear and nonlinear time history analysis.

Aim Currently, the widely adopted renal dynamic imaging in clinical practice uses Gates' method to calculate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), but many researchers have proven that Gates' method may result in bias. Thus, this article explores alternative improved formulae to calculate GFR by renal dynamic imaging. Methods Three hundred and sixty-seven patients were selected and their GFR values were measured using renal dynamic imaging and the two-plasma method with 99mTc-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (99mTc-DTPA) as the imaging agent. With the two-plasma GFR as reference value, two equations were obtained from linear and non-linear regression analyses between the renal uptake percentage and two-plasma GFR. The 367 patients were divided into two random groups, with the first group used to derive the regression formulae and the second to verify the formulae. Finally, all patients were studied to derive the formulae to calculate GFR. The comparison of our formulae with the commonly used Gates' formula was conducted by the Bland-Altman method. Results The linear and non-linear GFR formulae were as follows: GFR (ml/min/1.73 m2)=(631.633 x renal uptake percentage - 2.040) x 1.73/BSA (BSA, body surface area) and GFR (ml/min/1.73 m2)=(-1996.585 x renal uptake percentage2 + 1013.526 x renal uptake percentage - 12.739) x 1.73/BSA, respectively. The biases of the GFR values calculated using the linear and non-linear formulae and Gates' formula relative to the two-plasma GFR were -2.5 +/- 19.1 ml/min/1.73 m2, -2.0 +/- 19.3 ml/min/1.73 m2 and 3.4 +/- 19.4 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively. Conclusions The GFR values calculated using our new formulae correlate better with the reference GFR value than does GFR calculated by Gates' formula, and the GFR values measured using the non-linear formula are more accurate than those obtained using the linear formula.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and aneurysmectomy in the same session have on QT dispersion (QTd) in moderate or severe left ventricular dysfunction.Forty-four patients underwent QT interval analyses before and 1 month after aneurysmectomy and CABG. QT interval and QTd were corrected for heart rate using the square root formula of Bazett (QTCB), the cubic root formula of Fridericia (QTCF), and the linear formula of Sagie et al (QT CS ).The mean pre- and postsurgery QTd results were 65.29 +/- 29.25 and 51.76 +/- 18.49 milliseconds, respectively; the corresponding findings for QT CF were 68.06 +/- 31.26 and 55.16 +/- 24.56 milliseconds; and the corresponding findings for QT CS were 66.53 +/- 32.22 and 51.10 +/- 18.29 milliseconds. With these 3 methods, the postoperative findings were significantly lower than the preoperative findings ( P.05 for all). In contrast, the opposite was true with the QT CB method (preoperative 71.1 +/- 65.80 vs postoperative 76.43 +/- 7.96 milliseconds, P.05).The study showed that based on the methods of Fridericia (QT CF ) and Sagie et al (QT CS ), QT intervals are significantly decreased after CABG and aneurysmectomy.

Statistical results of all the 1621 failure analyses, which cover a four-year effort, are presented. The failure analyses were part of an elaborate test and ESS process of a high-reliability system. Of the failure analyses, 97.5% identified the root cause. The classification of the failures by 11 root cause classes, including the test and ESS process itself is provided. The distribution of failure root causes detected during the various phases of the process is shown. Each test phase was analyzed according to the share of failures found and the fraction of failures that occurred during that phase. Applying a linear formula that summarizes the relative efficacy of each test phase compares the performances of the various phases. The term efficacy is used to describe the ability of a test phase to reveal failures without generating new problems. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

To date, no information is available comparing the prognostic significance of the QT interval corrected by Bazett’s equation with that corrected by linear formulas in patients after myocardial infarction. Because several reports1,2 demonstrated that heart rate measured on a standard electrocardiogram is a strong predictor of adverse outcome in patients after myocardial infarction, it is very probable that linear adjustment of the QT interval decreases the prognostic power of corrected QT interval. The present study compares the value of linearly and nonlinearly corrected QT intervals for identifying high-risk patients, and tests the hypothesis that more accurate adjustment of the QT interval for heart rate paradoxically decreases the prognostic significance of the corrected QT interval in patients with remote myocardial infarc

EDITOR: WE AGREE WITH BRANDT AND ASSOCIATES 1 THAT GOLDmann applanation tonometry (GAT) yields systematic errors in measurement of intraocular pressure (IOP) attributable significantly to variations in central corneal thickness (CCT). We further agree that “true” IOP is far more complex than can be modeled by a simple linear arithmetic correction. However, there are a few issues related to the study that may be worth further discussion. We would like to point out that two plywoods placed together can bear four times as much weight as one. GAT is based on corneal deformation to external pressure. The relationship between the degree of corneal deformation to external pressure and the corneal thickness is not linear, but exponential. Exponential IOP correction formulas 2,3 are available, and they should give a better estimate of “true” IOP than a simple linear formula. Using the exponential IOP correction formula we developed, we calculated the “true” IOP from the data presented in Table 3 of

The need for normal figures on the growth of different parts of the body presented itself to me as a result of my studies on the growth and metabolism in pathologic cases during the last two years. 1 Since these data were not available, figures were compiled from a series of body surface measurements, taken, according to the Du Bois linear formula, on a group of clinically normal American children on whom studies had previously been made to determine the normal standards of basal metabolism. 2 These were average children within the accepted normal limits of height and weight for age, and do not represent exceptionally well nourished or poorly developed children. A description of these children has been given in an earlier publication. 2 The measurements were plotted on charts, and smoothed curves drawn to indicate the trend of growth of the different parts of the body. These curves

Claude Levi-Strauss is famous for ingenious solutions to literary puzzles-his explanation of the structure of the Oedipus myth is an example-but he has left some puzzles of his own to be decoded. One of the most tantalizing is the Boolean matrix which he offers as "a structural model defined as the group of transformations of a small number of elements" (S&F, p. 183)1 to account for Vladimir Propp's linear formula for the structure of Russian wondertales. In "Structure and Form: Reflections on a Work by Vladimir Propp," Levi-Strauss discusses the limitations of the formula Propp had propounded in Morphology of the Folktale. In place of the fixed order of the thirty-one "functions" Propp had isolated in the Russian wondertale, narrative events involving seven "dramatis personae" which always occur in the same order, Levi-Strauss substitutes the following Boolean matrix

Since the publication of Paper 5 of this series the so-called "Linear Formula" has been used in the study of a large number of individuals. Practically all of the subjects of respiration experiments in the Sage calorimeter have been measured in this way, and in addition Means1of Boston has used it as a factor in determining his normal base line of metabolism and the extent of the pathological variations. Means has found that the range of normal variation from the average is smaller and that the apparent depression of metabolism in obesity is much less marked when the linear formula, instead of Meeh's formula, is used to determine surface area. The accuracy of the linear formula has been shown in Paper 9 of this series. In order to correct the slight error in the factor for the arms, and also in order to clear up a few points

Twenty years ago body weight was used as the point of reference from which parenteral fluid requirements were calculated. As interest in fluids and electrolytes increased it became apparent, however, that weight alone could not serve as the point of reference for these calculations since the same amount of fluid per pound could not be given to an older child as was given to an infant. Formulas were therefore constructed utilizing surface area as the standard of reference upon which maintenance fluid requirements could be based. 1 Recently the rationale of the entire "surface area concept" has been questioned by Wilson and his associates. 2 These authors have pointed out the inadequacy of the data upon which the surface area "nomograms" are based, and they have raised other technical objections. (Twelve patients studied in 1915 served as the basis for the DuBois Linear Formula from which the surface area nomograms

This series of untreated mongolian idiots, between the ages of 4 months and 10 years, has been studied from the point of view of growth of different parts of the body. The findings have been plotted to the growth curve of normal children, constructed from a series of body surface measurements taken according to the DuBois linear formula. In Chart 1 the standing heights of these cases are shown according to age. These findings show a close proximity up to the first year of life, after which there is a tendency for the mongolian idiot to be shorter than the normal. While this may be said to be due in some cases to the occurrence of rickets, which is frequently seen in this condition, it is by no means the sole explanation, and the retardation of growth is not so pronounced as it is in cretinism. On the basis of