Patient and Health System Factors Associated with First Line Tuberculosis Treatment Adherence, 2009-2014

Background: The prevalence and incidence rate of tuberculosis remains high although the disease is known to be almost always curable provided the patient adheres to the treatment regimen. This study assessed the strength of association between known patient and health system factors associated with first line tuberculosis treatment adherence. Methods: A quantitative cross sectional study. Retrospective chart reviews were conducted among 570 persons who had primary tuberculosis and received first line treatment at a health facility within the Nkangala district, Mpumalanga province and who had a treatment outcome recorded between 1st January 2009 and 31st December 2014. Adherence to first line tuberculosis treatment was defined as taking ≥80% of tuberculosis prescribed drugs within a period of 6 to 8 months. Stata software (logistic regressions model) was used to analyze results and find the strength of association between known factors and treatment adherence. Results: Out of the 570 study participants, 473 were adherent and 96 were not adherent. There was a statistically significant association between age 18 years and above (OR: 1.02, P-value: 0.027), sex (lower in males OR: 0.44, P-value: 0.001) and support (OR: 3.04, P-value: 0.05) and HIV (OR: 1, P-value: 0.634) and first line TB treatment adherence. Conclusion and Recommendation: >80% adherence to first line tuberculosis outcome is possible. The support given to people with tuberculosis will further enhance adherence to first line tuberculosis treatment.

System Factors for Land Corruption in China

In China,institutional factors for the land corruption include:(i)implementation of land policy lacking proper security mechanism;(ii)weak supervision system;(iii)vacancy in supervision due to dual land management system;(iv)corruption of land finance resulted from system of tax allocation;(v)imperfect land management system;(vi)poor coordination between central and local government in land policy;(vii)unreasonable land allocation system;(viii)vacancy in unified procedure and standard of land transfer.In view of these factors,this paper came up with pertinent countermeasures:(i)improving land operation mechanism and establishing sunshine land market;(ii)improving corresponding supervision mechanism and verification system;(iii)taking advantage of the audit system.

Functional Confirmation Using a Medical X-Ray System of a Semiconductor Survey Meter

In recent years, semiconductor survey meters have been developed and are in increasing demand worldwide. This study determined if it is possible to use the X-ray system installed in each medical facility to calculate the time constant of a semiconductor survey meter and confirm the meter’s function. An additional filter was attached to the medical X-ray system to satisfy the standards of N-60 to N-120, more copper plates were added as needed, and the first and second half-value layers were calculated to enable comparisons of the facility’s X-ray system quality with the N-60 to N-120 quality values. Next, we used a medical X-ray system to measure the leakage dose and calculate the time constant of the survey meter. The functionality of the meter was then checked and compared with the energy characteristics of the meter. The experimental results showed that it was possible to use a medical X-ray system to reproduce the N-60 to N-120 radiation quality values and to calculate the time constant from the measured results, assuming actual leakage dosimetry for that radiation quality. We also found that the calibration factor was equivalent to that of the energy characteristics of the survey meter.

A systems biological approach to identify key transcription factors and their genomic neighborhoods in human sarcomas

Identification of genetic signatures is the main objective for many computational oncology studies. The signature usually consists of numerous genes that are differentially expressed between two clinically distinct groups of samples, such as tumor subtypes. Prospectively, many signatures have been found to generalize poorly to other datasets and, thus, have rarely been accepted into clinical use. Recognizing the limited success of traditionally generated signatures, we developed a systems biology-based framework for robust identification of key transcription factors and their genomic regulatory neighborhoods. Application of the framework to study the differences between gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) and leiomyosarcoma (LMS) resulted in the identification of nine transcription factors (SRF, NKX2-5, CCDC6, LEF1, VDR, ZNF250, TRIM63, MAF, and MYC). Functional annotations of the obtained neighborhoods identified the biological processes which the key transcription factors regulate differently between the tumor types. Analyzing the differences in the expression patterns using our approach resulted in a more robust genetic signature and more biological insight into the diseases compared to a traditional genetic signature.

New risk factors and new tendency for central nervous system relapse in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma:a retrospective study

Background: In patients with difuse large B?cell lymphoma(DLBCL), central nervous system(CNS) relapse is uncom?mon but is nearly always fatal. This study aimed to determine the risk factors for CNS relapse in DLBCL patients and to evaluate the eicacy of rituximab and intrathecal chemotherapy prophylaxis for CNS relapse reduction.Methods: A total of 511 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL treated at the Sun Yat?sen University Cancer Center between January 2003 and December 2012 were included in the study. Among these patients, 376 received R?CHOP regimen(rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) as primary treatment, and 135 received CHOP regimen(cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) as primary treatment. Intrathe?cal chemotherapy prophylaxis(methotrexate plus cytarabine) was administered to those who were deemed at high risk for CNS relapse. In the entire cohort and in the R?CHOP set in particular, the Kaplan–Meier method coupled with the log?rank test was used for univariate analysis, and the Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis. Diferences were evaluated using a two?tailed test, and P < 0.05 was considered signiicant.Results: At a median follow?up of 46 months, 25(4.9%) patients experienced CNS relapse. There was a trend of reduced occurrence of CNS relapse in patients treated with rituximab; the 3?year cumulative CNS relapse rates were 7.1% in CHOP group and 2.7% in R?CHOP group(P = 0.045). Intrathecal chemotherapy prophylaxis did not confer much beneit in terms of preventing CNS relapse. Bone involvement [hazard ratio(HR) = 4.21, 95% conidence interval(CI) 1.38–12.77], renal involvement(HR = 3.85, 95% CI 1.05–14.19), alkaline phosphatase(ALP) >110 U/L(HR = 3.59, 95% CI 1.25–10.34), serum albumin(ALB) <35 g/L(HR = 3.63, 95% CI 1.25–10.51), treatment with rituxi?mab(HR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.12–0.96), and a time to complete remission ≤ 108 days(HR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.06–0.78) were independent predictive factors for CNS relapse in the entire cohort. Bone involvement(HR = 4.44, 95% CI 1.08–18.35), bone marrow involvement(HR = 11.70, 95% CI 2.24–60.99), and renal involvement(HR = 10.83, 95% CI 2.27–51.65) were independent risk factors for CNS relapse in the R?CHOP set.Conclusions: In the present study, rituximab decreased the CNS relapse rate of DLBCL, whereas intrathecal chemo?therapy prophylaxis alone was not suicient for preventing CNS relapse. Serum levels of ALB and ALP, and the time to complete remission were new independent predictive factors for CNS relapse in the patients with DLBCL. In the patients received R?CHOP regimen, a trend of increased CNS relapse was found to be associated with extranodal lesions.

Impact of Ambient Air Pollution and Meteorological Factors on Hospital Admission to the Cardiovascular System Disease on Ulaanbaatar City of Mongolia

Background: Mongolia is situated in northern Central Asia. Landlocked between China and Russia, it is a vast expanse of high attitude grassland steppe, desert, and mountain covering an area of 1,565,000 square kilometers. Air pollution is an increasingly series problem in Mongolia. Materials and Methods: This is a time-series cross over study. All health and air pollution data of 2008-2017 was used for this survey. Results: The mean level of SO2 during the cold season was 35.22 μg/m3 and during the warm season it was 4.65 μg/m3. 24 hours PM10 concentration, during the cold season daily average concentration was 226.77 μg/m3. The 8 hours average daily carbon monoxide concentration (1352.85 μg/m3 [95% CI: 1313.07 - 1396.15]) was high during the cold season, ozone concentration (39.10 μg/m3 [95% CI: 37.95 - 40.35]) was high during the warm season. Air quality depends on metrological parameters. All correlation was statistically significant during the whole year and cold season. In total, 288,832 people get admitted to the hospital due to cardiovascular system disease in Ulaanbaatar during the year of 2008-2017. In general, hospitalization is increasing year by year. Significant associations were found for SO2 with hypertensive diseases (I10 - I15), ischemic heart diseases (I20 - I25), cerebrovascular diseases (I60 - I69), diseases of pulmonary circulation and other forms of heart (I00 - I09, I26 - I52) in all lags. For NO2 was less associated with Ischemic heart diseases (I20 - I25) and diseases of pulmonary circulation and other forms of heart (I00 - I09, I26 - I52). For both PM10 and PM2.5, every disease had observed significant RR in lag 0 - 3. Significant associations were found for air pollutants such as PM10, PM2.5, CO, SO2, and O3 in all lags had a statistically significant association with cold season’s cardiovascular system disease admission. As expected during the warm season significant association was found only lag 1 with PM2.5 and lags (0, 1) CO and O3. Conclusion: As expected this study demonstrated significant correlations between cardiovascular morbidity with PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, and some meteorological parameters.

Frequency of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Case-Control Study in a Department of Internal Medicine in Sub-Saharan Africa

Background: The morbidity and mortality of systemic lupus erythematosus are largely due to accelerated atherosclerosis. This is partly related to the high prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of our study was to determine the frequency of these factors in lupus patients compared to a control population in a department of internal medicine. Methods: We realized a case-control study in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus according to ACR criteria in 1997. Patients were matched by age and gender with controls subjects without autoimmune disease. We studied the frequency of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in both populations. The study was done in the department of internal medicine of Aristide Le Dantec teaching Hospital, in Senegal, during the period from August 2017 to December 2018. The statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 23.0 software and the level of significance was retained for a p-value Results: We recruited 100 subjects including 50 patients and 50 controls. The mean age was 33.5 ± 11.3 years in cases and 33.3 ± 11.3 years in controls. Dyslipidemia was significantly associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (p = 0.009). Levels of triglycerides (p Conclusion: Traditional cardiovascular risk factors including dyslipidemia and hyperuricemia were more common in patients. Similarly, renal failure was associated with lupus.

Transforming growth factor-β signaling in systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis（SSc） is a complex, multiorgan autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. Manifestation of the disease results from an interaction of three key pathologic features including irregularities of the antigen-specific immune system and the non-specific Immune system, resulting in autoantibody production, vascular endothelial activation of small blood vessels, and tissue fibrosis as a result of fibroblast dysfunction. Given the heterogeneity of clinical presentation of the disease, a lack of universal models has impeded adequate testing of potential therapies for SSc. Regardless, recent research has elucidated the roles of various ubiquitous molecular mechanisms that contribute to the clinical manifestation of the disease. Transforming growth factor β（TGF-β） has been identified as a regulator of pathological fibrogenesis in SSc. Various processes, including cell growth, apoptosis, cell differentiation, and extracellular matrix synthesis are regulated by TGF-β,a type of cytokine secreted by macrophages and many other cell types. Understanding the essential role TGF-β pathways play in the pathology of systemic sclerosis could provide a potential outlet for treatment and a better understanding of this severe disease.

Recombinant expression and purification of functional vascular endothelial growth factor-121 in the baculovirus expression system

Objective: To express human Vascular endothelial growth factor121(VEGF121) in insect cells. Methods: A gene construct containing VEGF was cloned in the p Fast Bac-HTA vector, followed by transformation in DH10 BAC. The recombinant bacmid was then extracted, and transfected into Sf9 insect cells. The transfected cells were harvested, and then VEGF expression was confirmed by Western blotting using specific antibodies. The tube formation assay was used for functional assessment of VEGF. Results: Our results showed that VEGF could be successfully expressed in the baculovirus system. Purified VEGF was able to stimulate in vitro tube formation of human endothelial cells. Conclusions: Results from this study demonstrated that the recombinantly-produced VEGF can be considered as a promising candidate for therapeutic purposes.

Study on Influencing Factors of Bio-electrochemical System for Water Softening

Bio-electrochemical system( BES) was used to soften hard water,and effects of ion species,electrode area and influent concentration on the performance of BES to soften hard water were analyzed. The results showed that it was more easy to remove Mg^(2+) from the hard water than Ca^(2+). Increasing electrode area could enhance the performance of BES to soften hard water. When the amount of added graphite at the anode was 150 g,the removal efficiency of Ca^(2+) increased by 18. 1%. The increase of influent concentration at the anode and the cathode could improve the softening efficiency of hard water by BES. As COD concentration at the anode and NO_3^--N concentration at the cathode increased to 2000 and 300 mg/L,the removal efficiency of Ca^(2+) rose by 36. 1% and 9. 4% respectively.

Analysis on the Influencing Factors of the Quality Traceable System Established by Edible Agricultural Products Enterprises-Taking Sichuan as an Example

According to the investigation data from 81 edible agricultural products enterprises in Sichuan Province,the influence factors of establishing quality tracing system are empirically analyzed from four aspects,including the enterprise features,the attitudes of operators,management and market competition by using the Logistic model.The results show that the enterprise can establish the quality tracing system after the comprehensive function of a series of internal and external factors.The four factors include peer pressure;age of enterprise;export and the expectation on improving economic interests have the biggest impact on enterprise to establish the quality tracing system.The factors,including the quality safety certificate obtained by the enterprises,export of products,sampling frequency,peer pressure,the pressure from consumers and media,the expectation on improving the competition of products,the expectation on improving economic interests,play a promotion role in helping enterprises to establish quality tracing system.The countermeasures and suggestion are put forward from strengthening the social responsibility of enterprises;intensifying the law enforcement of government and expanding the experimental enterprises with the quality tracing system.

Restraining Factors and Improving Paths for the Operation Mechanism of New Rural Cooperative Medical System in China

The new rural cooperative medical system has achieved periodical achievements since its establishment.Nevertheless,there are many factors hampering the development of the new system,such as the high cost,the difficulties in fund procurement,the lack of management,the narrow coverage of benefit,the ineffective constraint to the designated medical institutions,the high fund balance rate,and the poor medical facilities and services in rural areas.Countermeasures are put forward to solve these problems,including improving the system design,expanding the coverage of the system,expanding the fund sources,reducing the financing costs,strengthening the fund supervision,enhancing the supervision of designated medical institutions,and improving the capacity of health services in rural areas.

Integrating factors and conservation theorems of constrained Birkhoffian systems

In this paper the conservation theorems of the constrained Birkhoffian systems are studied by using the method of integrating factors. The differential equations of motion of the system are written. The definition of integrating factors is given for the system. The necessary conditions for the existence of the conserved quantity for the system are studied. The conservation theorem and its inverse for the system are established. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the application of the results.

Prognostic factors and survival after surgical resection of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor with validation of established and modified staging systems

Background: Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors(PNETs) display wide heterogeneity with highly variable prognosis. This study aimed to identify variables related to survival after surgical resection of PNET.Methods: A total of 143 patients were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Patient characteristics were analyzed and prognostic factors for overall survival and progression-free survival were evaluated. The WHO, ENETS and AJCC scoring systems were applied to the cohort, and their ability to predict patient outcomes were compared.Results: Multivariate analysis found that female gender, lymph node metastases and increasing WHO2010 grade to be independently associated with reduced overall survival(P < 0.05). Patients requiring multi-visceral resection or debulking surgery found to be associated with shortest survival. ROC analysis found the ENETS and AJCC scoring systems to be similarly predictive of 5-year overall survival. Modified Ki67 significantly improved its accuracy in predicting 5-year overall survival(AUROC: 0.699 vs 0.605;P < 0.01).Conclusions: Multi-visceral or debulking surgery is associated with poor outcomes. There seems to be no significant difference between enucleation and anatomical segmental resection. Available scoring systems have reasonable accuracy in stratifying disease severity, with no system identified as being superior.Prognostic stratification with modified grading systems needs further validation before applied in clinical practice.

金融科技与中国制造业现代产业体系建设

本文利用2011-2022年我国30个省份的省际面板数据,探讨金融科技对制造业现代产业体系建设的影响,结论如下:(1)金融科技有利于促进制造业现代产业体系建设;(2)金融科技可以通过改善创新要素配置和缓解资本要素错配来助力制造业现代产业体系建设;(3)在数字基础设施更加完善、市场化水平更高以及银行数字化水平更突出的地区,金融科技支持制造业现代产业体系建设的作用更为明显。本文验证了金融科技对制造业现代产业体系建设的积极作用,为加速推进制造业高质量发展、更好服务于中国式现代化提供了理论依据和经验借鉴。

Estimation of USLE crop and management factor values for crop rotation systems in China

Soil erosion on cropland is a major source of environmental problems in China ranging from the losses of a non-renewable resource and of nutrients at the source to contamination of downstream areas. Regional soil loss assessments using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) would supply a scientiifc basis for soil conservation planning. However, a lack of in-formation on the cover and management (C) factor for cropland, one of the most important factors in the USLE, has limited accurate regional assessments in China due to the large number of crops grown and their complicated rotation systems. In this study, single crop soil loss ratios (SLRs) were col ected and quantiifed for 10 primary crops from past studies or re-ports. The mean annual C values for 88 crop rotation systems in 12 cropping system regions were estimated based on the combined effects of single crop SLRs and the percentage of annual rainfal erosivity (R) during the corresponding periods for each system. The C values in different cropping system regions were compared and discussed. The results indicated that the SLRs of the 10 primary crops ranged from 0.15 to 0.74. The mean annual C value for al 88 crop rotation systems was 0.34, with a standard deviation of 0.12. The mean C values in the single, double and triple cropping zones were 0.37, 0.36 and 0.28, respectively, and the C value in the triple zone was signiifcantly different from those in single and double zones. The C values of dryland crop systems exhibited signiifcant differences in the single and triple cropping system regions but the differences in the double regions were not signiifcant. This study is the ifrst report of the C values of crop rotation systems in China at the national scale. It wil provide necessary and practical parameters for accurately assessing regional soil losses from cropland to guide soil conservation plans and to optimize crop rotation systems.

Association of rs10954213 Polymorphisms and Haplotype Diversity in Interferon Regulatory Factor 5 with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Meta-analysis

The rs10954213 polymorphism and the haplotype diversity in interferon regulatory factor 5 （1RF5） play a special role in systemic lupus erythematosus （SLE） but with inconclusive results. We conducted a meta-analysis integrating case-control and haplotype variant studies in multiple ethnic populations to clearly discern the effect of these two variants on SLE. Eleven studies on the relation between rs10954213 polymorpisms in IRF5 and SLE were included and we selected a random effect model to calculate the pooled odds ratios （ORs） and the corresponding 95% confidence interval （95% CI）. A total of 6982 cases and 8077 controls were involved in the meta-analysis. The pooled results in- dicated that A allele was significantly associated with increased risk of SLE as compared with the IRF5 rS10954213 G allele （A vs. G, P〈0.00001） in all subjects. The same pattern of the results was also ob- tained in the European, African American, and Latin American. Asian population had a much lower prevalence of the A allele （49.1%） than any other population studied, and Europeans had the highest frequency of the IRF5 rs10954213 A allele （62.1%）. The significant association of increased SLE risk and TCA haplotype was indicated in the contrast of TCA vs. TTA as the pooled OR was 2.14 （P=0.002）. The same result was also found in the contrast of TCA vs. TTG as the pooled OR was 1.45 （P=-0.004）. This meta-analysis suggests that the A allele of rs10954213 and TCA haplotype （rs2004640-rs2070197-rs10954213） in IRF5 is associated with the increased risk of SLE in different ethnic groups, and its prevalence is ethnicity dependent.

Influencing Factors and Path Choice of Rebuilding Rural Financial Supervision System

The necessity of rebuilding Chinese rural financial supervision system is expounded. Rebuilding rural financial supervision system is conducive to normalizing rural financial order and forming the benign competitive situation; to clarifying the role played by rural financial organization and providing better financial services for "three agriculture";to forming safe rural financial environment to promote the development of rural economy and national economy. The restricting factors of rebuilding Chinese rural financial supervision system are analyzed. The major reasons are that rural financial legislation is relatively backward and the supervision department lacks the necessary legal basis. The administrative supervision is insufficient, which lead to the mal-position, administrative offside and vacancy of rural financial supervision;rural financial organization mechanism is unreasonable and the internal supervision mechanism is relatively bad;supervision organization of rural financial industry is imperfect and the function is imperfect; public's supervision awareness is weak and social supervision mechanism develops slowly. The paths for rebuilding Chinese rural financial supervision system are put forward including accelerating rural financial legislation to provide perfect legal evidence for rural financial supervision system; clarifying the position on governmental functions and fully displaying the leading role of rural financial supervision; establishing specialized rural financial supervision organization to perfect its supervision functions; vigorously cultivating people's supervision awareness to promote the development of social supervision mechanism.

Influence Factors of Phosphorus Removal by Chemical Method in Sewage Treatment System

[Objective] The research aimed to study influence factors of phosphorus removal by chemical method in sewage treatment system. [ Method] In different reaction systems, removal effect of the phosphorus in sewage by dosing lime and influence of the constraint factor were stud- ied. [ Result] Lime precipitation method treating high-concentration phosphorus wastewater could not only decline cost of phosphorus removal by chemical method, but also reach better treatment effect under suitable stirring and precipitation conditions by controlling alkalinity and pH. Phosphor- us content of chemical sludge after treatment could reach 9% -12%, with higher recyclable value. E Conclusion] Lime method treating phosphorus- rich sewage was more economic than low-concentration phosphorus sewage, and had very great potential for recycling phosphorus.

生态旅游赋能矿山修复开发适宜性评价及影响因素

【目的】发展生态旅游赋能以绿色矿山为代表的矿山土地综合修复利用受到广泛关注,研究生态旅游赋能矿山修复开发适宜性评价体系与影响因素,为全国绿色矿山生态旅游高质量发展提供技术支撑。【方法】基于层次分析法(AHP)从科研价值、历史文化价值、休闲游憩价值、生态环境价值、矿区开发条件、城市开发环境6个维度构建了绿色矿山生态旅游评价指标体系,以湖南为案例地,运用因子分析法测算湖南绿色矿山生态旅游开发适宜性评价,采用多元线性回归方法分析了湖南绿色矿山生态旅游开发的影响因素。【结果】结果显示,湖南绿色矿山生态旅游开发评价指标综合评分最高为0.84,最低为0.38,开发评价指标综合评分差距较小。旅游资源丰富程度、生态环境质量、政策支持情况通过了1%水平的显著性检验,基础设施、相关者的参与度和友善度、交通便利性通过了5%水平的显著性检验,且与湖南绿色矿山生态旅游开发存在正相关关系,风险安全状况对湖南绿色矿山生态旅游开发影响不显著。【结论】湖南省生态旅游赋能矿山修复开发潜力大,为此,应加强政府的宏观规划管理,制定相应政策法规,引导和保障矿山生态旅游开发。加强科学技术与数字化水平,加大创新投入,充分利用矿山遗留资源和当地文化,在生态修复保护的基础上,提高矿山生态旅游价值,打造矿山生态旅游产品。