A predictive score for retinopathy of prematurity by using clinical risk factors and serum insulin-like growth factor-1 levels

AIM：To detect the impact of insulin-like growth factor-1（IGF-1）and other risk factors for the early prediction of retinopathy of prematurity（ROP）and to establish a scoring system for ROP prediction by using clinical criteria and serum IGF-1 levels.METHODS：The study was conducted with 127 preterm infants.IGF-1 levels in the 1st day of life,1st,2nd,3rd and4th week of life was analyzed.The score was established after logistic regression analysis,considering the impact of each variable on the occurrences of any stage ROP.A validation cohort containing 107 preterm infants was included in the study and the predictive ability of ROP score was calculated.RESULTS：Birth weights（BW）,gestational weeks（GW）and the prevalence of breast milk consumption were lower,respiratory distress syndrome（RDS）,bronchopulmonarydysplasia（BPD）and necrotizing enterocolitis（NEC）were more frequent,the duration of mechanical ventilation and oxygen supplementation was longer in patients with ROP（P〈0.05）.Initial serum IGF-1 levels tended to be lower in newborns who developed ROP.Logistic regression analysis revealed that low BW（〈1250 g）,presence of intraventricular hemorrhage（IVH）and formula feeding increased the risk of ROP.Afterwards,the scoring system was validated on 107 infants.The negative predictive values of a score less than 4 were 84.3%,74.7%and 79.8%while positive predictive values were 76.3%,65.5%and71.6%respectively.CONCLUSION：In addition to BW〈1250 g and IVH,formula consumption was detected as a risk factor for the development of ROP.Breastfeeding is important for prevention of ROP in preterm infants.

Engineering personalized neural tissue using functionalized transcription factors

Diseases and disorders of the central nervous system often require significant interventions to restore lost function due to their com- plexity. Examples of such disorders include Parkinson＇s disease, Alzheimer＇s disease, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord in）ury. These diseases and disorders result trom healthy cells being destroyed, which in turn causes dysfunction in the cen- tral nervous system, The death of these cells can trigger a cascade of events that affect the rest of the body, causing symptoms that become progressively worse over time. Developing strategies for repairing the damage to the central nervous system remains chal- lenging, in part due to its inability to regenerate.

Research Advance on Influencing Factors of Crop Water Use Efficiency

The research advance on the influencing factors of crop water use effi-ciency （WUE） was reviewed in this paper. Based on the discussion on the conno-tation of crop WUE, the influencing factors of crop WUE, such as crop, environ-ment, chemicals, cultivation measures, cropping systems, etc, were elaborated. A-mong them, the species and varieties of crop, soil and chemicals were discussed in detail.

A USEFUL AND PRECISE EXPRESSION FOR ORIENTATION FACTOR OF POLED POLYMER FILMS

Based on ID ROGM, d_(33) of poled films can be estimated from orientation factor <cos^3θ>. In this letter, a direct expression

Factors Influencing the Use of Outcome Measures for Patients with Low Back Pain: A Survey of Nigerian Physiotherapists

Background: Low back pain is one of the important patients’ presenting complain that requires expert management from the physiotherapists. Yet no work was available for reference on the use of outcome measures for its evaluation by Nigeria physiotherapists. Objective: This study, therefore, investigated the outcome measures used by Nigerian physiotherapists to evaluate patients with Low Back Pain and the factors that influenced their use. Methods: A survey questionnaire was posted to 306 randomly selected mem- bers of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (NSP). Data were analyzed using frequency, percentages, mean, ANOVA, and Pearson’s Chi-square. P-value was placed at 0.05. Results: 52.9% of the respondents (221) used a pain visual analog scale. Only 36.1% used LBP-specific clinical outcome measures. The factors that influenced their use were belief, attitude, knowledge, and choice. There was no significant difference between the majority of the factors and the use of clinical outcome measures. The P-values were 0.960, 0.648, 0.760 for belief, attitude and knowledge respectively. The only factor that had a significant difference (P = 0.029) with the use of clinical outcome measures was choice. Gender and postgraduate qualification had no significant influ- ence on the use of clinical outcome measures at the P-value of 0.117 and 0.510 respectively. Conclusion: Pain visual analog scale is the outcome measure frequently used by Nigeria Physiotherapists to evaluate patients with Low Back Pain. Belief, attitude, knowledge, and choice are the factors that influ- enced the use. There is a need to incorporate the use of LBP-specific outcome measures by Nigerian physiotherapists while treating patients with LBP.

A Modified DRASTIC Approach to Shallow Groundwater Vulnerability in the West Lake Watershed in Hangzhou, China

The quality of shallow groundwater in the West Lake watershed wasinvestigated form March to July 2000. Integrating with BlacklandGRASS GIS system, the DRASTIC model was used to compile the ground-water vulnerability map. A land use factor was added to the DRASTICmodel and the modified model (LDRASTIC0 increased the accuracy ofprediction form 26.9/100 to 51.3/100. The vulnerability map showedthat the lowly, moderately and highly susceptible area predictedoccupied about 11.6/100, 70.9/100 and 17.5/100 of the wholewatershed, respectively. Compared with the observed values of nitrateand electric conductivity, the LDRASTIC index improved the Pearsoncorrelation coefficients form -0.010 to 0.237 and 0.380 to 0.503;Both the improved coefficients were significant at the 0.01 level.The modified DRASTIC analysis showed a Great potential as a screeningtool for policy decision-making in groundwater management.

A New Method Based on Association Rules Mining and Geo-filter for Mining Spatial Association Knowledge

Association rule mining methods, as a set of important data mining tools, could be used for mining spatial association rules of spatial data. However, applications of these methods are limited for mining results containing large number of redundant rules. In this paper, a new method named Geo-Filtered Association Rules Mining(GFARM) is proposed to effectively eliminate the redundant rules. An application of GFARM is performed as a case study in which association rules are discovered between building land distribution and potential driving factors in Wuhan, China from 1995 to 2015. Ten sets of regular sampling grids with different sizes are used for detecting the influence of multi-scales on GFARM. Results show that the proposed method can filter 50%–70% of redundant rules. GFARM is also successful in discovering spatial association pattern between building land distribution and driving factors.

A Novel Technique of Measuring SOA Differential Carrier Lifetime and a -Factor Using SOA Optical Modulation Response

We demonstrate a new technique of measuring differential carrier lifetime and linewidth enhancement factor in a semiconductor optical amplifier. In our method, the optical responses and fiber transfer functions of a self-gain modulated SOA are measured and, from these, values of carrier lifetimes and linewidth enhancement factors are determined for various SOA input optical powers.

A Study on the Allocation of New Construction Land Use Indicators in Huai'an City

This paper makes a comprehensive analysis on the characteristics and influencing factors of regional allocation of new construction land use indicators,and determines the primary indicators from social,economic,external and internal factors.Using Delphi method and correlation analysis,this paper selects indicators and establishes evaluation indicator system.Using entropy method and AHP,this paper determines the weight of indicators,rationally allocates new construction land,and uses the actual data in Huai'an City for case studies,so as to provide a reference for land use planning.In addition,this paper makes a comparative analysis on the land use internal factors as important factors,in order to make the weight assigning more in line with the actual situation of construction land in Huai'an.

Improvement of lenvatinib-induced nephrotic syndrome after adaptation to sorafenib in thyroid cancer:A case report

BACKGROUND Target therapy is licensed by United States Food and Drug Administration on certain cancers.Both sorafenib and lenvatinib are tyrosine kinase inhibitor and indicated on radioactive iodine(RAI)-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer(DTC).Lenvatinib is more effective in cancers'control than sorafenib,but causes more nephrotoxicity than sorafenib does.This case is the second published case about the serial adaptions from lenvatinib to sorafenib for improving the proteinuria and,meanwhile,achieving the therapeutic goal.CASE SUMMARY A 56-year-old man suffered from bilateral edematous lower extremities after 1-mo prescription of lenvatinib of 20 mg/d for RAI-refractory DTC.Aside from this symptom,he also developed hypertension.His laboratory showed grade-3 proteinuria(estimated 24-h urine protein:9993 mg),hypoalbuminemia and hypercholesterolemia.Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)therapyinduced nephrotic syndrome was impressed.After reduced dosage of lenvatinib of 10 mg/d and related symptomatic drugs,limited improvement was observed in both adverse effects and caner control.Under this condition,we substituted sorafenib of 400 mg/d for lenvatinib of 10 mg/d.After a 5-mo prescription,not only hypertension and peripheral edema were greatly improved,but also proteinuria was improved from grade three to grade one(estimated 24-h urine protein:962 mg).At the same time the cancer control was achieved,judged from computed tomography and laboratory evidence[thyroglobulin(Tg)before prescription of sorafenib:354.7 ng/m L;Tg after prescription of sorafenib:108.9 ng/m L].CONCLUSION Adaption from lenvatinib to sorafenib is a feasible method to improve the antiVEGF therapy-induced nephrotic syndrome and achieve the therapeutic goal at the same time.

New approach for obtaining the C-factor of RUSLE considering the seasonal effect of rainfalls on vegetation cover

We present a new approach for calculating the C-factor of RUSLE considering the effect of low-reflectance vegetation cover areas on the reduction of the effects on erosion caused by rainfall seasonality.For this,we propose the coefficients Cr2(rescaled 2)and C-PC(Precipitation Correction),which represent the Cfactor,and an adaptation in NDVI calculation,according to the seasonality of precipitation(NDVI-PC).The Cr2 factor is used when there is no seasonal effect of rainfall on vegetation,while the C-PC factor is calculated for localities under the influence of seasonality,from NDVI-PC.The proposed approaches were tested using different satellites images in the Palmares-Ribeir~ao do Saco watershed,Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.The values of Cr2 and C-PC factors were compared to the Cr factor(rescaled)and to mean values from the literature for different land covers.Our results indicated that the Cr2 factor represents an improvement in accuracy in relation to Cr by considering specific values of the studied area to normalize the data without generalizations.Furthermore,the C-PC factor is able to simulate the effect of seasonality,providing more realistics values of soil loss by the RUSLE as a function of the proportion of area affected by the rainfall seasonality obtained from NDVI-PC.We conclude that both Cr2 and C-PC factors generate values similar of the C-factor observed in the literature,and therefore are able to provide better soil loss estimation than that using the Cr factor.

Factors Related to EFL/ESL Learners' Reading Strategy Use: A Literature Review

This paper systematically reviews factors related to the use of reading strategies among college-level learners of English as a foreign/second language(EFL/ESL).The author examines empirical studies published from 2000 to 2017 in order to answer two research questions:(a)What factors relate to the college-level EFL/ESL learners’use of reading strategies?(b)How do these factors relate to college-level EFL/ESL learners’use of reading strategies?An initial review of the literature identifies four factors related to EFL/ESL learners’reading strategy use:English proficiency,first language(L1)literacy experience,gender,and motivation.For reasons of space,this article only reports and discusses findings on the first two factors.(1)English proficiency:High-proficiency readers use more metacognitive,support,global,and problem-solving strategies and have more metacognitive knowledge of strategy use than low-proficiency readers.They also differ from low-proficiency readers in learning reading strategies.(2)L1 literacy experience:EFL/ESL readers’L1 linguistic features and L1 reading experience shape their strategy use when they read English.

在用仪表系数在原油动态计量中的应用

K-Factor线性化可以提高流量计计量的准确度,在用仪表系数在K-Factor分段线性化的基础上可以补偿每批次原油贸易交接计量中因密度、粘度、温度、压力等因素变动导致的计量特性发生变化,进一步提高计量准确度的同时可及时发现处于检定有效期内的流量计是否能保持其计量特性,有效减少贸易纠纷。本文给出了K-Factor线性化计算方法和在用仪表系数的计算及接受准则。