AIM: To determine the most cost-effective hemofiltration modality for early management of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in China. METHODS: We carried out a search of Pub-Medline and Chinese Biomedical Disk datab...AIM: To determine the most cost-effective hemofiltration modality for early management of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in China. METHODS: We carried out a search of Pub-Medline and Chinese Biomedical Disk database. Controlled clinical trials on Chinese population were included in the analysis. The four decision branches that were analyzed were: continuous or long-term veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH/LVVH), short-term veno-venous hemofiltration (SVVH), SVVH plus peritoneal dialysis (PD), and non-hemofiltration control group. The effectiveness of the technique was determined by survival rate, complications prevention and surgery preservation. The total cost of hospitalization was also assessed. RESULTS: The SVVH only technique was the least costly modality, $5809 (44449 RMB), and was selected as the baseline treatment modality. SVVH only arm achieved the lowest C/E ratio in terms of overall survival, complications prevention and surgery preservation. In incremental cost-effectiveness analysis, the CWH/ LVVH only and the control arms were inferior to other techniques. Sensitivity analysis showed SVVH only and SVVH plus PD arms overlapped in C/survival ratio. CONCLUSION: The role of early veno-venous hemofiltration as an alternative therapy for SAP remains controversial. However, we propose that early use of short-term high-volume veno-venous hemofiltration would have a beneficial impact on the management of SAP.展开更多
Interest in phenotypic flexibility has increased dramatically over the last decade, but flexibility during reproduction has received relatively little attention from avian scientists, despite its possible impact on fi...Interest in phenotypic flexibility has increased dramatically over the last decade, but flexibility during reproduction has received relatively little attention from avian scientists, despite its possible impact on fitness. Because most avian species maintain atrophied reproductive organs when not active, reproduction in birds requires major tissue remodeling in preparation for breeding. Females undergo rapid (days) recrudescence and regression of their reproductive organs at each breeding attempt, while males grow their organs ahead of time at a much slower rate (weeks) and may maintain them at maximal size throughout the breeding season. Reproduction is associated with significant metabolic costs. Egg production leads to a 22%-27% increase in resting metabolic rate (RMR) over non-reproductive values. This is partly due to the activity of the oviduct, an organ that may allow females to adjust reproductive investment by modulating egg size and quality. In males, gonadal recrudescence may lead to a 30% increase in RMR, but the data are inconsistent and general conclusions regarding energetic costs of reproduction in males will require more research. Recent studies on captive female zebra finches describe the impacts of these costs on daily energy budgets and highlight the strategies used by birds to maintain their investment in reproduction when energy is limited. Whenever possible, birds use behavioral flexibility as a first means of saving energy. Decreasing locomotor activity saves energy during challenges such as egg production or exposure to cold temperatures and is an efficient way to buffer variation in individual daily energy budgets. However, when behavioral flexibility is not possible, birds must rely on flexibility at the physiological level to meet energy demands. In zebra finches breeding in the cold, this results in a reduced pace of laying, likely due to down-regulation of both reproductive and non-reproductive function, allowing females to defend minimal egg size and maintain reproductive success. More research involving a range of species in captive and flee-living conditions is needed to determine how phenotypic flexibility during tissue remodeling and early reproductive investment translates to natural conditions and affects fitness [Current Zoology 56 (6): 767-792, 2010].展开更多
The effect of malnutrition on survival in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis has not been well defined. Nutritional intervention with branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) can increase serum albumin concentration ...The effect of malnutrition on survival in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis has not been well defined. Nutritional intervention with branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) can increase serum albumin concentration in patients with decompensated cirrhosis but its effects on survival are unclear. The BCAA to tyrosine ratio (BTR) is a surrogate marker (the normal range of BTR is between 4.41 and 10.05, and a Fischer's ratio of 1.8 corresponds to a BTR of 3.5) in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis, and BCAA inhibits hepatic carcinogenesis in patients with compensated cirrhosis. This review discusses data regarding the effect of early administration of BCAA granules based on the ratio of BCAA to BTR on prognosis in patients with cirrhosis.展开更多
Water pollution accidents such as chemical spill and toxicants leach have become a serious issue in the world, which brings great threats to the aquatic ecosystem and drinking water safety. To detect unknown pollution...Water pollution accidents such as chemical spill and toxicants leach have become a serious issue in the world, which brings great threats to the aquatic ecosystem and drinking water safety. To detect unknown pollutions in time and take proper emergency actions, this study developed a system which integrated an online intelligent water quality monitoring device with a high efficient water quality model. The device is based on water quality probes and biological sensors which use fish motion as indicator. The numerical model is a combination of Euler and Lagrangian approaches. Finite element method is applied to simulate the flow field in an unstructured grid, and the pollutant be- haviours are traced through particle tracking. Oracle is used to manage the basic and monitoring data, and ArcSDE as well as ArclMS technologies are applied to make the system WebGIS-based so as to improve the data receiving and dispatching efficiency. The developed system has been successfully operated in Douhe Reservoir and Taihu Lake, China, where drinking water intakes are installed. It is seen from the applications that the online intelligent water qual- ity monitoring and emergency support system can be of great support to emergency management.展开更多
Biliary cysts(BC) are rare dilatations of different parts of a biliary tract.They account for approximately 1% of all benign biliary diseases.BC occur the most frequently in Asian and female populations.They are an im...Biliary cysts(BC) are rare dilatations of different parts of a biliary tract.They account for approximately 1% of all benign biliary diseases.BC occur the most frequently in Asian and female populations.They are an important problem for pediatricians,gastroenterologists,radiologists and surgeons.Clinical presentation and management depend on the BC type.Cholangiocarcinoma is the most serious and dangerous BC complication.The other complications associated with BC involve cholelithiasis and hepatolithiasis,cholangitis,acute and chronic pancreatitis,portal hypertension,liver fibrosis and secondary liver cirrhosis and spontaneous cyst perforation.Different BC classifications have been described in the literature.Todani classification dividing BC into five types is the most useful in clinical practice.The early diagnosis and proper treatment are very important,because BC are associated with a risk of carcinogenesis.A malignancy risk increases with the age.Radiological investigations(ultrasonography,computed tomography,endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography) play an important role in BC diagnostics.Currently,prenatal diagnosis using ultrasonography is possible.It allows to differentiate biliary disorders in fetals and to perform the early surgical treatment that improves results.In most patients,total cyst excision with Roux-Y hepaticojejunostomy is the treatment of choice.Surgical treat-ment of BC is associated with high success rate and low morbidity and mortality.The early treatment is associated with a lower number of complications.Patients following BC surgery require permanent and careful postoperative observation using laboratory and imaging investigations because of possibility of biliary anastomosis stricture and biliary cancer in tissue remnant.展开更多
This paper presents software reliability modeling issues at the early stage of a software development for fault tolerant software management system. Based on Stochastic Reward Nets, an effective model of hierarchical ...This paper presents software reliability modeling issues at the early stage of a software development for fault tolerant software management system. Based on Stochastic Reward Nets, an effective model of hierarchical view for a fault tolerant software management system is put forward, and an approach that consists of system transient performance analysis is adopted. A quantitative approach for software reliability analysis is given. The results show its usefulness for the design and evaluation of the early-stage software reliability modeling when failure data is not available.展开更多
This article gives an overview of my book French Philosophy and Social Theory. A Perspective for Ethics and Philosophy of Management, published by Springer 2014. As an extension of my earlier work on French philosophy...This article gives an overview of my book French Philosophy and Social Theory. A Perspective for Ethics and Philosophy of Management, published by Springer 2014. As an extension of my earlier work on French philosophy, this book provides an application of important concepts from contemporary French philosophy to business ethics and the ethics of organizations. Although the book covers a wide range of philosophers and philosophical movements, there is a core and deep unity of the book. This is the demonstration of how the conceptual resources of contemporary French philosophy from the early 20th Century to the present day can be applied to give us new perspectives on business ethics and the ethics of organizations.展开更多
This paper presents a case study that demonstrates how models can be used to support water management decisions before sufficient data to verify the model are available. In developing areas, and for new reservoirs, ex...This paper presents a case study that demonstrates how models can be used to support water management decisions before sufficient data to verify the model are available. In developing areas, and for new reservoirs, extensive data for model calibration and validation are often not available. As a case study we developed a CE-QUAL-W2 model of Aguamilpa Reservoir using minimal data and used the model to create a data acquisition plan to support early planning decisions. We based the model on a two-year period and compared the model results to data recently collected with our acquisition plan. We present how we developed and used the model to design the data acquisition plan which identifies and collects data to update and calibrate the model to support future decisions. We show that a minimally calibrated model based on scarce data can support management decisions and be the first step in a spiral engineering approach to system management. Spiral engineering uses models and data to both support early decisions and to iteratively improve this information to support subsequent decisions and models. This case study can be used as a guide for developing water quality models with minimal data and uses the models to support early decision requirements.展开更多
Objective: The purpose of the study was to study the mechanism of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and its relationship with tumor stage in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Forty-two patients with NSCLC wer...Objective: The purpose of the study was to study the mechanism of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and its relationship with tumor stage in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Forty-two patients with NSCLC were collected, 19 belonged to the early stage (stages Ⅰ +Ⅱ) while 23 were late stage (stages Ⅲ + Ⅳ). Moreover, 20 patients got surgical treat ment and 22 got chemotherapy. We studied the relationship of VM with stage, chemotherapeutic effect, HIF-la, microves sel density (MVD) and clinicopathologic features. Results: VM in patients of early stages were significantly more than late stages (68.4% vs 26.1%, P = 0.006), and the positive rate of VM was proportional to HIF-la (P = 0.034). But no correlation was found between VM and chemotherapeutic effect (14.3% vs 26.7%, P = 1.00) or MVD (P 〉 0.05). Furthermore, we found VM also showed a negative correlation with distant metastases and lymph nodes metastases (P 〈 0.05) while no correlation was found with other clinicopathologic. Conclusion: VM was generated during the early stage in NSCLC and correlated with lymph nodes metastases. As the disease progressed, VM may be replaced by vascular endothelial cells, so the late-stage patients especially people with distant metastases had fewer VM. As the main factor produced by hypoxia, HIF-la may make a difference in VM formation. Thus we inferred VM might be a new target for targeted therapy, and could provide help for clinical staging and treatment.展开更多
Smart grids are expected to become an essential component of the future energy system. The technical potential of smart grids is far reaching and increasingly well understood, and smart grids are now in the early phas...Smart grids are expected to become an essential component of the future energy system. The technical potential of smart grids is far reaching and increasingly well understood, and smart grids are now in the early phases of market deployment in several regions, particularly, in Europe and the US. Less understood than the technical aspects is how and to what degree end users (i.e. the customers) are willing and able to embrace smart grid technologies and the changes in mindset associated with this transition. This article reports the main findings from an lEA (International Energy Agency)-DSM (demand side management) project addressing the role of customers in a smart grid deployment scheme, specifically how customer behavior may restrict the technical potential of smart grids from being realized. With a model of household energy behavior as the theoretical point of departure, the research builds on experiences from various smart grid pilot studies, together with consumer research within similar domains, to identify behavioral challenges that are likely to hamper adoption of"smart grid behaviors". Based on this insight, a set of recommendations to minimize customer resistance to smart grid deployment is suggested.展开更多
基金Supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.30500684 and Clinical Research Foundation for Residency Granted by the Cooperative Project of West China Hospital and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., the level Ⅰ
文摘AIM: To determine the most cost-effective hemofiltration modality for early management of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in China. METHODS: We carried out a search of Pub-Medline and Chinese Biomedical Disk database. Controlled clinical trials on Chinese population were included in the analysis. The four decision branches that were analyzed were: continuous or long-term veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH/LVVH), short-term veno-venous hemofiltration (SVVH), SVVH plus peritoneal dialysis (PD), and non-hemofiltration control group. The effectiveness of the technique was determined by survival rate, complications prevention and surgery preservation. The total cost of hospitalization was also assessed. RESULTS: The SVVH only technique was the least costly modality, $5809 (44449 RMB), and was selected as the baseline treatment modality. SVVH only arm achieved the lowest C/E ratio in terms of overall survival, complications prevention and surgery preservation. In incremental cost-effectiveness analysis, the CWH/ LVVH only and the control arms were inferior to other techniques. Sensitivity analysis showed SVVH only and SVVH plus PD arms overlapped in C/survival ratio. CONCLUSION: The role of early veno-venous hemofiltration as an alternative therapy for SAP remains controversial. However, we propose that early use of short-term high-volume veno-venous hemofiltration would have a beneficial impact on the management of SAP.
基金funded by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through a discovery granta postdoctoral fellowship a Nouveaux chercheurs grant from the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT)
文摘Interest in phenotypic flexibility has increased dramatically over the last decade, but flexibility during reproduction has received relatively little attention from avian scientists, despite its possible impact on fitness. Because most avian species maintain atrophied reproductive organs when not active, reproduction in birds requires major tissue remodeling in preparation for breeding. Females undergo rapid (days) recrudescence and regression of their reproductive organs at each breeding attempt, while males grow their organs ahead of time at a much slower rate (weeks) and may maintain them at maximal size throughout the breeding season. Reproduction is associated with significant metabolic costs. Egg production leads to a 22%-27% increase in resting metabolic rate (RMR) over non-reproductive values. This is partly due to the activity of the oviduct, an organ that may allow females to adjust reproductive investment by modulating egg size and quality. In males, gonadal recrudescence may lead to a 30% increase in RMR, but the data are inconsistent and general conclusions regarding energetic costs of reproduction in males will require more research. Recent studies on captive female zebra finches describe the impacts of these costs on daily energy budgets and highlight the strategies used by birds to maintain their investment in reproduction when energy is limited. Whenever possible, birds use behavioral flexibility as a first means of saving energy. Decreasing locomotor activity saves energy during challenges such as egg production or exposure to cold temperatures and is an efficient way to buffer variation in individual daily energy budgets. However, when behavioral flexibility is not possible, birds must rely on flexibility at the physiological level to meet energy demands. In zebra finches breeding in the cold, this results in a reduced pace of laying, likely due to down-regulation of both reproductive and non-reproductive function, allowing females to defend minimal egg size and maintain reproductive success. More research involving a range of species in captive and flee-living conditions is needed to determine how phenotypic flexibility during tissue remodeling and early reproductive investment translates to natural conditions and affects fitness [Current Zoology 56 (6): 767-792, 2010].
文摘The effect of malnutrition on survival in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis has not been well defined. Nutritional intervention with branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) can increase serum albumin concentration in patients with decompensated cirrhosis but its effects on survival are unclear. The BCAA to tyrosine ratio (BTR) is a surrogate marker (the normal range of BTR is between 4.41 and 10.05, and a Fischer's ratio of 1.8 corresponds to a BTR of 3.5) in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis, and BCAA inhibits hepatic carcinogenesis in patients with compensated cirrhosis. This review discusses data regarding the effect of early administration of BCAA granules based on the ratio of BCAA to BTR on prognosis in patients with cirrhosis.
基金National High-Tech R&D Program of China ("863" Program,No.2009AA06A418)
文摘Water pollution accidents such as chemical spill and toxicants leach have become a serious issue in the world, which brings great threats to the aquatic ecosystem and drinking water safety. To detect unknown pollutions in time and take proper emergency actions, this study developed a system which integrated an online intelligent water quality monitoring device with a high efficient water quality model. The device is based on water quality probes and biological sensors which use fish motion as indicator. The numerical model is a combination of Euler and Lagrangian approaches. Finite element method is applied to simulate the flow field in an unstructured grid, and the pollutant be- haviours are traced through particle tracking. Oracle is used to manage the basic and monitoring data, and ArcSDE as well as ArclMS technologies are applied to make the system WebGIS-based so as to improve the data receiving and dispatching efficiency. The developed system has been successfully operated in Douhe Reservoir and Taihu Lake, China, where drinking water intakes are installed. It is seen from the applications that the online intelligent water qual- ity monitoring and emergency support system can be of great support to emergency management.
文摘Biliary cysts(BC) are rare dilatations of different parts of a biliary tract.They account for approximately 1% of all benign biliary diseases.BC occur the most frequently in Asian and female populations.They are an important problem for pediatricians,gastroenterologists,radiologists and surgeons.Clinical presentation and management depend on the BC type.Cholangiocarcinoma is the most serious and dangerous BC complication.The other complications associated with BC involve cholelithiasis and hepatolithiasis,cholangitis,acute and chronic pancreatitis,portal hypertension,liver fibrosis and secondary liver cirrhosis and spontaneous cyst perforation.Different BC classifications have been described in the literature.Todani classification dividing BC into five types is the most useful in clinical practice.The early diagnosis and proper treatment are very important,because BC are associated with a risk of carcinogenesis.A malignancy risk increases with the age.Radiological investigations(ultrasonography,computed tomography,endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography) play an important role in BC diagnostics.Currently,prenatal diagnosis using ultrasonography is possible.It allows to differentiate biliary disorders in fetals and to perform the early surgical treatment that improves results.In most patients,total cyst excision with Roux-Y hepaticojejunostomy is the treatment of choice.Surgical treat-ment of BC is associated with high success rate and low morbidity and mortality.The early treatment is associated with a lower number of complications.Patients following BC surgery require permanent and careful postoperative observation using laboratory and imaging investigations because of possibility of biliary anastomosis stricture and biliary cancer in tissue remnant.
基金This work was supported in part by the Ph.D.Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China under
文摘This paper presents software reliability modeling issues at the early stage of a software development for fault tolerant software management system. Based on Stochastic Reward Nets, an effective model of hierarchical view for a fault tolerant software management system is put forward, and an approach that consists of system transient performance analysis is adopted. A quantitative approach for software reliability analysis is given. The results show its usefulness for the design and evaluation of the early-stage software reliability modeling when failure data is not available.
文摘This article gives an overview of my book French Philosophy and Social Theory. A Perspective for Ethics and Philosophy of Management, published by Springer 2014. As an extension of my earlier work on French philosophy, this book provides an application of important concepts from contemporary French philosophy to business ethics and the ethics of organizations. Although the book covers a wide range of philosophers and philosophical movements, there is a core and deep unity of the book. This is the demonstration of how the conceptual resources of contemporary French philosophy from the early 20th Century to the present day can be applied to give us new perspectives on business ethics and the ethics of organizations.
文摘This paper presents a case study that demonstrates how models can be used to support water management decisions before sufficient data to verify the model are available. In developing areas, and for new reservoirs, extensive data for model calibration and validation are often not available. As a case study we developed a CE-QUAL-W2 model of Aguamilpa Reservoir using minimal data and used the model to create a data acquisition plan to support early planning decisions. We based the model on a two-year period and compared the model results to data recently collected with our acquisition plan. We present how we developed and used the model to design the data acquisition plan which identifies and collects data to update and calibrate the model to support future decisions. We show that a minimally calibrated model based on scarce data can support management decisions and be the first step in a spiral engineering approach to system management. Spiral engineering uses models and data to both support early decisions and to iteratively improve this information to support subsequent decisions and models. This case study can be used as a guide for developing water quality models with minimal data and uses the models to support early decision requirements.
文摘Objective: The purpose of the study was to study the mechanism of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and its relationship with tumor stage in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Forty-two patients with NSCLC were collected, 19 belonged to the early stage (stages Ⅰ +Ⅱ) while 23 were late stage (stages Ⅲ + Ⅳ). Moreover, 20 patients got surgical treat ment and 22 got chemotherapy. We studied the relationship of VM with stage, chemotherapeutic effect, HIF-la, microves sel density (MVD) and clinicopathologic features. Results: VM in patients of early stages were significantly more than late stages (68.4% vs 26.1%, P = 0.006), and the positive rate of VM was proportional to HIF-la (P = 0.034). But no correlation was found between VM and chemotherapeutic effect (14.3% vs 26.7%, P = 1.00) or MVD (P 〉 0.05). Furthermore, we found VM also showed a negative correlation with distant metastases and lymph nodes metastases (P 〈 0.05) while no correlation was found with other clinicopathologic. Conclusion: VM was generated during the early stage in NSCLC and correlated with lymph nodes metastases. As the disease progressed, VM may be replaced by vascular endothelial cells, so the late-stage patients especially people with distant metastases had fewer VM. As the main factor produced by hypoxia, HIF-la may make a difference in VM formation. Thus we inferred VM might be a new target for targeted therapy, and could provide help for clinical staging and treatment.
文摘Smart grids are expected to become an essential component of the future energy system. The technical potential of smart grids is far reaching and increasingly well understood, and smart grids are now in the early phases of market deployment in several regions, particularly, in Europe and the US. Less understood than the technical aspects is how and to what degree end users (i.e. the customers) are willing and able to embrace smart grid technologies and the changes in mindset associated with this transition. This article reports the main findings from an lEA (International Energy Agency)-DSM (demand side management) project addressing the role of customers in a smart grid deployment scheme, specifically how customer behavior may restrict the technical potential of smart grids from being realized. With a model of household energy behavior as the theoretical point of departure, the research builds on experiences from various smart grid pilot studies, together with consumer research within similar domains, to identify behavioral challenges that are likely to hamper adoption of"smart grid behaviors". Based on this insight, a set of recommendations to minimize customer resistance to smart grid deployment is suggested.