Laboratory simulation studies and composting pilot study wereconducted to evaluate the capacity of three strains of fungi,indigenous fungus Fusarium sp. And Phanerochaete chrysosporium andCoriolus Versicolor, to remed...Laboratory simulation studies and composting pilot study wereconducted to evaluate the capacity of three strains of fungi,indigenous fungus Fusarium sp. And Phanerochaete chrysosporium andCoriolus Versicolor, to remediate petroleum-contaminated soils. Inlaboratory, the fungi were inoculated into a liquid Culture mediumand the petroleum-contaminated soil samples for incubation of 40 and50 days, respectively. In the 200-day pilot study, nutrient contentsand moisture were adjusted and maintained under aerobic Condition incomposting units using concrete container (118.5 cm×65.5 cm×12.5cm) designed specially For this study.展开更多
Density,ultrasonic velocity and viscosity of imidazolinone derivatives are studied in dimethyl formamide(DMF) at 308.15 K.From the experimental data,various acoustical parameters,such as specific impedance Z,isentropi...Density,ultrasonic velocity and viscosity of imidazolinone derivatives are studied in dimethyl formamide(DMF) at 308.15 K.From the experimental data,various acoustical parameters,such as specific impedance Z,isentropic compressibilityκs,Rao's molar sound function Rm,van der Waals constant b,relaxation strength r,intermolecular free length Lf,internal pressureπ,solvation number Sn,relative association RA,etc.are evaluated,which helps in understanding the molecular interactions occurring in these solutions.展开更多
Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is a common autoimmune disease characterized by progressive joint inflammation and destruction,deformity,loss of mobility,and permanent disability.Although the cellular and molecular mechanisms...Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is a common autoimmune disease characterized by progressive joint inflammation and destruction,deformity,loss of mobility,and permanent disability.Although the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in RA are understood in detail,no drugs or therapies can completely cure RA.Many long-term efforts have been directed towards a better understanding of RA pathogenesis and the development of new classes of therapeutics.Thus,the ongoing elucidation of pathogenic events underlying RA mostly relies on studies of animal models.Herein,we comprehensively review and discuss the characteristics,challenges,and unresolved of issues of various experimental models of RA to provide a basis and reference for the rational selection of experimental RA models for basic investigations into traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).展开更多
Dyshpidemia is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerosis. Treating dyslipidemia in elderly patients requires specific knowledge and understanding of common dyslipidemias and the relative safety of various pha...Dyshpidemia is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerosis. Treating dyslipidemia in elderly patients requires specific knowledge and understanding of common dyslipidemias and the relative safety of various pharmacologic agents in the presence of possible multiple comorbidities. Lifestyle modification remains the first step in the treatment of dyslipidemia; however, it can be difficult to sustain and achieve acceptable compliance in the elderly and it is best used in combination with drug therapy. Statins are widely accepted as the first-line therapy. Several recent studies have demonstrated that statins are safe and effective in the elderly. However, it is important to note that there is very limited data regarding the effects of dyslipidemia treatment on morbidity and mortality in patients over 85 years of age. In summary, the clinicians must recognize that the presence of dyslipidemia in the elderly poses substantial risk of coronary events and stroke. The available evidence has demonstrated that in most elderly patients who are at increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, treatment of dyslipidemia with appropriate therapy reduces the risk, and when used carefully with close monitoring for safety, the treatment is generally well tolerated. With increasing life expectancy, it is critical for physicians to recognize the importance of detection and treatment of dyslipidemia in the elderly.展开更多
AIM:To perform a meta-analysis of observational studies to further elucidate the relationship between oral bisphosphonate use and gastrointestinal cancer risk.METHODS:Systematic literature search was conducted in MEDL...AIM:To perform a meta-analysis of observational studies to further elucidate the relationship between oral bisphosphonate use and gastrointestinal cancer risk.METHODS:Systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE,EMBASE,and the Cochrane Library to identify studies through January 2011.Search terms were "bisphosphonates" or trade names of the drugs,and "observational studies" or "cohort studies" or "case-control studies".Two evaluators reviewed and selected articles on the basis of predetermined selection criteria as followed:(1) observational studies(casecontrol or cohort studies) on bisphosphonate use;(2) with at least 2 years of follow-up;and(3) reported data on the incidence of cancer diagnosis.The DerSimonian and Laird random effects model were used to calculate the pooled relative risk(RR) with 95% confidence interval(CI).Two-by-two contingency table was used to calculate the outcomes not suitable for meta-analysis.Subgroup meta-analyses were conducted for the type of cancer(esophageal,gastric and colorectal cancers).Sensitivity analyses were performed to examine the effect sizes when only studies with long-term follow-up(mean 5 years;subgroup 3 years) were included.RESULTS:Of 740 screened articles,3 cohort studies and 3 case-control studies were included in the analyses.At first,4 cohort studies and 3 case-control studies were selected for the analyses but one cohort study was excluded because the cancer outcomes were not categorized by type of gastrointestinal cancer.More than 124 686 subjects participated in the 3 cohort studies.The mean follow-up time in all of the cohort studies combined was approximately 3.88 years.The 3 casecontrol studies reported 3070 esophageal cancer cases and 15 417 controls,2018 gastric cancer cases and 10 007 controls,and 11 574 colorectal cancer cases and 53 955 controls.The percentage of study participants who used bisphosphonate was 2.8% among the cases and 2.9% among the controls.The meta-analysis of all the studies found no significant association between bisphosphonate use and gastrointestinal cancer.Also no statistically significant association was found in a meta-analysis of long-term follow-up studies.There was no negative association between bisphosphonate use and the incidence of esophageal cancer in the overall analysis(RR 0.96,95% CI:0.65-1.42,I 2 = 52.8%,P = 0.076) and no statistically significant association with long-term follow-up(RR 1.74,95% CI:0.97-3.10,I 2 = 58.8%,P = 0.119).No negative association was found in the studies reporting the risk of gastric cancer(RR 0.89,95% CI:0.71-1.13,I 2 = 0.0%,P = 0.472).In case of colorectal cancer,there was no association between colorectal cancer and bisphosphonate use(RR 0.62,95% CI:0.30-1.29,I 2 = 88.0%,P = 0.004) and also in the analysis with long-term follow-up(RR 0.61,95% CI:0.28-1.35,I 2 = 84.6%,P = 0.011).CONCLUSION:Oral bisphosphonate use had no significant effect on gastrointestinal cancer risk.However,this finding should be validated in randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up.展开更多
Objectives: An open-label prospective, combined basic and clinical controlled study was done to investigate the effects of biological therapy using rituximab, and cytotoxic drug treatment with methotrexate on morphol...Objectives: An open-label prospective, combined basic and clinical controlled study was done to investigate the effects of biological therapy using rituximab, and cytotoxic drug treatment with methotrexate on morphology and quantifitiation of chromosomes in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: This study is follow-up of a prior publication, with new observations in comparison with control subjects. A total of 16 subjects were divided into two groups. Group I comprised 8 seropositive rheumatoid arthritis patients who were analysed for the primary end point of possible cytotoxic effects of rituximab and methotrexate. Group II included 8 healthy individuals who served as controls. Assessment was done before treatment with rituximab, and 4 weeks after initiation of therapy. Patients were randomly assigned to receive infusion of rituximab in a full dose of 2.0 g divided into two doses of 1.0 g on days I and 15. The lymphocytes from periphereal blood was cultured by the Moorhead method. Results: Normal male and female Karyograms were observed after full courses of therapy with rituximab. In one female patient who had been receiving longstanding cytotoxic therapy with methotrexate, 2% of chromosomal mitosis showed structural abnormalities. Following the discontinuation of methotrexate and the administration of rituximab, her karyogram became normal. Conclusion: The results from this study indicated that rituximab therapy was safe for the number and structure of human chromosomes, while methotrexate showed chromosomal aberration in one female RA patient. After discontinuation of this longstanding treatment, the karyogram of the same patient returned to normal.展开更多
Objective: The extraarticular symptoms are important in the pattern differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the present study is designed in an attempt to find the associations between the extraarti...Objective: The extraarticular symptoms are important in the pattern differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the present study is designed in an attempt to find the associations between the extraarticular symptoms and American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Response in 194 cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with biomedicine. Methods: The data were obtained from a randomized clinical trial. One hundred ninety-four RA patients were treated with the biomedical therapy (diclofenec, methotrexate and sulfasalazine). ACR20 response in 24 weeks was used for the efficacy evaluation. Eighteen symptoms (including 13 extraarticular symptoms) that TCM practitioners focus on were collected for exploration on the association between the symptoms and the efficacy of the biomedical therapy with association rules method. Results: After 24 weeks, a total of 135 patients receiving biomedicine had achieved an ACR20 response. The association rules analysis on each symptom showed that soreness in the waist was more associated with ACR20 response, but with lower support (selected sample size based, 20.10% and 14.95% respectively); cold intolerance and cold joint were found to be associated with ACR20 response with higher support (48.97% and 53.61% respectively), and the confidences (predicted effective rate) were 73.08% and 71.23% respectively. The associations between combination of symptoms (among them, there was at least one extraarticular symptom) and ACR20 response indicated that cold intolerance or cold joint with higher confidence and support were the most important extraarticular symptoms. Conclusion: The RA patients with "cold intolerance" and "cold joints", which are the extraarticular symptoms that TCM practitioners focus on, may show higher ACR20 response when treated with the biomedical approach.展开更多
Statin has been proposed to have a capacity to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer,while the obtained results are not consistent.To gain a clearer picture of the relationship between statin use and pancreatic cancer,...Statin has been proposed to have a capacity to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer,while the obtained results are not consistent.To gain a clearer picture of the relationship between statin use and pancreatic cancer,the present meta-analysis took into consideration data from eight cohort studies,ten case-control studies and three RCTs.We searched all relevant studies on the effect of statin use on the risk of pancreatic cancer using PubMed,Embase and the Cochrane library database from inception to July 30,2018.The following search terms were used:(1)statin("statins","statin","3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A reductase inhibitors","atorvastatin","cerivastatin","fluvastatin","lovastatin","pravastatin","rosuvastatin","simvastatin");(2)pancreatic cancer("cancer","neoplasm","malignancy").We manually examined the references of the relevant articles and reviews to identify additional studies.A total of 21 studies,published between 2001 and July 2018 and involving 1148680 cases and 2177842 controls,fulfilled the selection criteria.The pooled results revealed a significant relationship between statin use and pancreatic cancer risk(OR=0.84,95%CI 0.72-0.98,P=0.000,I^2=84.30).However,lipophilic statins(OR=1.07,95%CI 0.97-1.18,P=0.651,I^2=0.0%)had no significant effect on the risk of pancreatic cancer.In contrast,short-term statin use(OR=0.72,95%CI 0.54-0.96,P=0.000,I^2=80.1%)and long-term statin use(OR=0.70,95%CI 0.54-0.92,P=0.000,12=79.8%)significantly reduced pancreatic cancer risk.Notably,the high heterogeneity among the selected studies was eliminated by excluding the three studies that focused on restricted populations.Statin could significantly reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.展开更多
We collected data on sleeping site use from two groups of white-headed langurs Trachypithecus leucocephalus living in Fusui Nature Reserve, China between August 2007 and July 2008. This information was used to test se...We collected data on sleeping site use from two groups of white-headed langurs Trachypithecus leucocephalus living in Fusui Nature Reserve, China between August 2007 and July 2008. This information was used to test several hypotheses regarding ultimate causes of sleeping site use in this primate. White-headed langurs slept either in caves (17 sites) or on a cliffledge (one site). They used all sleeping sites repeatedly, and reused some of them on consecutive nights; three nights was the longest consecutive use of any one sleep site. We suggest that langurs use sleeping sites to make approach and attack by predators difficult, and to increase their own familiarity with a location so as to improve chances for escape. Langurs' cryptic behaviors with an increased level of vigilance before entering sleeping sites may also help in decreasing the possibility of detection by predators. Group 1 spent more sleeping nights in the central area of their territory than expected; in contrast, group 2 spent more sleeping nights in the periphery of their territory, which overlaps with that of another groups, than expected. The position of sleeping site relative to the last feeding site of the day and the first feeding site of the subsequent morning indicated a strategy closer to that of a multiple central place forager than of a central place forager. These results suggest that territory defense and food access may play an important role in sleeping site use of white-headed langurs [Current Zoology 57 (3): 260-268, 2011].展开更多
Predator odors can elicit fear responses in prey and predator odor recognition is generally associated with physiological responses. Prey species are often more likely to respond to the odor of familiar ra- ther than ...Predator odors can elicit fear responses in prey and predator odor recognition is generally associated with physiological responses. Prey species are often more likely to respond to the odor of familiar ra- ther than alien predators. However, predator na'ivety in an introduced prey species has rarely been investigated. We examined the physiological response, as shown by changes in ventilatory vari- ables, of an introduced terrestrial herbivore, the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, in Australia, to the odor of potential predators and to control odors (distilled water and horse), to explore if res- ponses were limited to historical (cat and fox) predators, or extended to historically novel predators (snake and quoll). All odors except distilled water elicited a response, with rabbits showing long- term higher respiratory frequencies and lower tidal volumes after introduction of the odors, indi- cating an increase in alertness. However, the intensity of the rabbits' reaction could not be directly linked to any pattern of response with respect to the history of predator-prey relationships. Rabbits exhibited significantly stronger reactions in response to both cat and quoll odors than they did to dis- tilled water, but responses to horse, fox, and snake odor were similar to that of water. Our results show that the introduced rabbit can respond to both historical and novel predators in Australia, and suggest that shared evolutionary history is not necessarily a prerequisite to predator odor recognition.展开更多
This study presents a novel approach to evaluate the rate of aggregate risk of Invasive Alien Plant Species. Using risk values and grade of importance of weights of risk factors which may reflect invasiveness of plant...This study presents a novel approach to evaluate the rate of aggregate risk of Invasive Alien Plant Species. Using risk values and grade of importance of weights of risk factors which may reflect invasiveness of plant species are considered. We use Linguistic Ordered Weighted Averaging operator to evaluate the grade of important of weights. Since the risk values and important weights are identified from two different linguistic term sets, fuzzy set theory techniques were used to combine the two sets. The rates obtained from the model were compared with NRA risk levels and the model was validated with data from known and non-invasive species. The model is improved by weighting the risk values of risk factors. The improved model produced significant results and resulted a better tracking system for identifying potential invaders than the conventional risk assessment.展开更多
At least 1,065 introduced vertebrate species have been introduced in the United States and its territories, including at least 86 mammalian, 127 avian, 179 reptilian/amphibian, and 673 fish species. Examples in each m...At least 1,065 introduced vertebrate species have been introduced in the United States and its territories, including at least 86 mammalian, 127 avian, 179 reptilian/amphibian, and 673 fish species. Examples in each major taxonomic group include domestic cat, small Indian mongoose, red fox, goat, pig, rabbit, rats, house mouse, gray squirrel, nutria, starling, Indian common myna, red-vented bulbul, brown treesnake, red-eared slider, brown trout, tilapia, and grass carp. We briefly review some of these species and the types of damage they cause. We then review the basic types of methods used for control or eradication of each taxonomic group, including physical, chemical, biological, and cultural methods. We discuss some of the challenges in managing these species, including issues with the use of toxicants, land access, public attitudes, and monitoring difficulties. Finally, we list some ongoing research and future research needs, including improved detection methods, improved attractants, improved barriers, improved capture methods, fertility control, and risk assessment methods [Current Zoology 57 (5): 559-567, 2011].展开更多
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.49831070) the ChineseAcademy of Sciences(No.KZ951-B1-207-01-03).
文摘Laboratory simulation studies and composting pilot study wereconducted to evaluate the capacity of three strains of fungi,indigenous fungus Fusarium sp. And Phanerochaete chrysosporium andCoriolus Versicolor, to remediate petroleum-contaminated soils. Inlaboratory, the fungi were inoculated into a liquid Culture mediumand the petroleum-contaminated soil samples for incubation of 40 and50 days, respectively. In the 200-day pilot study, nutrient contentsand moisture were adjusted and maintained under aerobic Condition incomposting units using concrete container (118.5 cm×65.5 cm×12.5cm) designed specially For this study.
文摘Density,ultrasonic velocity and viscosity of imidazolinone derivatives are studied in dimethyl formamide(DMF) at 308.15 K.From the experimental data,various acoustical parameters,such as specific impedance Z,isentropic compressibilityκs,Rao's molar sound function Rm,van der Waals constant b,relaxation strength r,intermolecular free length Lf,internal pressureπ,solvation number Sn,relative association RA,etc.are evaluated,which helps in understanding the molecular interactions occurring in these solutions.
基金funding support from the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province(No.XKJ[2021]43-2021RC4035)supported by the Hunan Furong Distinguished Scholar Program(No.XJT[2020]58)the Chinese Academy of Engineering Academician LIU Liang’s Workstation of Hunan(No.XKXT[2020]34)。
文摘Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is a common autoimmune disease characterized by progressive joint inflammation and destruction,deformity,loss of mobility,and permanent disability.Although the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in RA are understood in detail,no drugs or therapies can completely cure RA.Many long-term efforts have been directed towards a better understanding of RA pathogenesis and the development of new classes of therapeutics.Thus,the ongoing elucidation of pathogenic events underlying RA mostly relies on studies of animal models.Herein,we comprehensively review and discuss the characteristics,challenges,and unresolved of issues of various experimental models of RA to provide a basis and reference for the rational selection of experimental RA models for basic investigations into traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).
文摘Dyshpidemia is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerosis. Treating dyslipidemia in elderly patients requires specific knowledge and understanding of common dyslipidemias and the relative safety of various pharmacologic agents in the presence of possible multiple comorbidities. Lifestyle modification remains the first step in the treatment of dyslipidemia; however, it can be difficult to sustain and achieve acceptable compliance in the elderly and it is best used in combination with drug therapy. Statins are widely accepted as the first-line therapy. Several recent studies have demonstrated that statins are safe and effective in the elderly. However, it is important to note that there is very limited data regarding the effects of dyslipidemia treatment on morbidity and mortality in patients over 85 years of age. In summary, the clinicians must recognize that the presence of dyslipidemia in the elderly poses substantial risk of coronary events and stroke. The available evidence has demonstrated that in most elderly patients who are at increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, treatment of dyslipidemia with appropriate therapy reduces the risk, and when used carefully with close monitoring for safety, the treatment is generally well tolerated. With increasing life expectancy, it is critical for physicians to recognize the importance of detection and treatment of dyslipidemia in the elderly.
基金Supported by The Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education,Science and Technology,No.2012-0003761
文摘AIM:To perform a meta-analysis of observational studies to further elucidate the relationship between oral bisphosphonate use and gastrointestinal cancer risk.METHODS:Systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE,EMBASE,and the Cochrane Library to identify studies through January 2011.Search terms were "bisphosphonates" or trade names of the drugs,and "observational studies" or "cohort studies" or "case-control studies".Two evaluators reviewed and selected articles on the basis of predetermined selection criteria as followed:(1) observational studies(casecontrol or cohort studies) on bisphosphonate use;(2) with at least 2 years of follow-up;and(3) reported data on the incidence of cancer diagnosis.The DerSimonian and Laird random effects model were used to calculate the pooled relative risk(RR) with 95% confidence interval(CI).Two-by-two contingency table was used to calculate the outcomes not suitable for meta-analysis.Subgroup meta-analyses were conducted for the type of cancer(esophageal,gastric and colorectal cancers).Sensitivity analyses were performed to examine the effect sizes when only studies with long-term follow-up(mean 5 years;subgroup 3 years) were included.RESULTS:Of 740 screened articles,3 cohort studies and 3 case-control studies were included in the analyses.At first,4 cohort studies and 3 case-control studies were selected for the analyses but one cohort study was excluded because the cancer outcomes were not categorized by type of gastrointestinal cancer.More than 124 686 subjects participated in the 3 cohort studies.The mean follow-up time in all of the cohort studies combined was approximately 3.88 years.The 3 casecontrol studies reported 3070 esophageal cancer cases and 15 417 controls,2018 gastric cancer cases and 10 007 controls,and 11 574 colorectal cancer cases and 53 955 controls.The percentage of study participants who used bisphosphonate was 2.8% among the cases and 2.9% among the controls.The meta-analysis of all the studies found no significant association between bisphosphonate use and gastrointestinal cancer.Also no statistically significant association was found in a meta-analysis of long-term follow-up studies.There was no negative association between bisphosphonate use and the incidence of esophageal cancer in the overall analysis(RR 0.96,95% CI:0.65-1.42,I 2 = 52.8%,P = 0.076) and no statistically significant association with long-term follow-up(RR 1.74,95% CI:0.97-3.10,I 2 = 58.8%,P = 0.119).No negative association was found in the studies reporting the risk of gastric cancer(RR 0.89,95% CI:0.71-1.13,I 2 = 0.0%,P = 0.472).In case of colorectal cancer,there was no association between colorectal cancer and bisphosphonate use(RR 0.62,95% CI:0.30-1.29,I 2 = 88.0%,P = 0.004) and also in the analysis with long-term follow-up(RR 0.61,95% CI:0.28-1.35,I 2 = 84.6%,P = 0.011).CONCLUSION:Oral bisphosphonate use had no significant effect on gastrointestinal cancer risk.However,this finding should be validated in randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up.
文摘Objectives: An open-label prospective, combined basic and clinical controlled study was done to investigate the effects of biological therapy using rituximab, and cytotoxic drug treatment with methotrexate on morphology and quantifitiation of chromosomes in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: This study is follow-up of a prior publication, with new observations in comparison with control subjects. A total of 16 subjects were divided into two groups. Group I comprised 8 seropositive rheumatoid arthritis patients who were analysed for the primary end point of possible cytotoxic effects of rituximab and methotrexate. Group II included 8 healthy individuals who served as controls. Assessment was done before treatment with rituximab, and 4 weeks after initiation of therapy. Patients were randomly assigned to receive infusion of rituximab in a full dose of 2.0 g divided into two doses of 1.0 g on days I and 15. The lymphocytes from periphereal blood was cultured by the Moorhead method. Results: Normal male and female Karyograms were observed after full courses of therapy with rituximab. In one female patient who had been receiving longstanding cytotoxic therapy with methotrexate, 2% of chromosomal mitosis showed structural abnormalities. Following the discontinuation of methotrexate and the administration of rituximab, her karyogram became normal. Conclusion: The results from this study indicated that rituximab therapy was safe for the number and structure of human chromosomes, while methotrexate showed chromosomal aberration in one female RA patient. After discontinuation of this longstanding treatment, the karyogram of the same patient returned to normal.
基金supported by the National Tenth Five Year Plan Project of China, Projects from National Science Foundation of China (No.30825047)National Eleventh Plan Project (No. 2006BAI04A10)E-institutes of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (No. E03008)
文摘Objective: The extraarticular symptoms are important in the pattern differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the present study is designed in an attempt to find the associations between the extraarticular symptoms and American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Response in 194 cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with biomedicine. Methods: The data were obtained from a randomized clinical trial. One hundred ninety-four RA patients were treated with the biomedical therapy (diclofenec, methotrexate and sulfasalazine). ACR20 response in 24 weeks was used for the efficacy evaluation. Eighteen symptoms (including 13 extraarticular symptoms) that TCM practitioners focus on were collected for exploration on the association between the symptoms and the efficacy of the biomedical therapy with association rules method. Results: After 24 weeks, a total of 135 patients receiving biomedicine had achieved an ACR20 response. The association rules analysis on each symptom showed that soreness in the waist was more associated with ACR20 response, but with lower support (selected sample size based, 20.10% and 14.95% respectively); cold intolerance and cold joint were found to be associated with ACR20 response with higher support (48.97% and 53.61% respectively), and the confidences (predicted effective rate) were 73.08% and 71.23% respectively. The associations between combination of symptoms (among them, there was at least one extraarticular symptom) and ACR20 response indicated that cold intolerance or cold joint with higher confidence and support were the most important extraarticular symptoms. Conclusion: The RA patients with "cold intolerance" and "cold joints", which are the extraarticular symptoms that TCM practitioners focus on, may show higher ACR20 response when treated with the biomedical approach.
基金Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of Jiangsu Province(Grant No.2018K256C)
文摘Statin has been proposed to have a capacity to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer,while the obtained results are not consistent.To gain a clearer picture of the relationship between statin use and pancreatic cancer,the present meta-analysis took into consideration data from eight cohort studies,ten case-control studies and three RCTs.We searched all relevant studies on the effect of statin use on the risk of pancreatic cancer using PubMed,Embase and the Cochrane library database from inception to July 30,2018.The following search terms were used:(1)statin("statins","statin","3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A reductase inhibitors","atorvastatin","cerivastatin","fluvastatin","lovastatin","pravastatin","rosuvastatin","simvastatin");(2)pancreatic cancer("cancer","neoplasm","malignancy").We manually examined the references of the relevant articles and reviews to identify additional studies.A total of 21 studies,published between 2001 and July 2018 and involving 1148680 cases and 2177842 controls,fulfilled the selection criteria.The pooled results revealed a significant relationship between statin use and pancreatic cancer risk(OR=0.84,95%CI 0.72-0.98,P=0.000,I^2=84.30).However,lipophilic statins(OR=1.07,95%CI 0.97-1.18,P=0.651,I^2=0.0%)had no significant effect on the risk of pancreatic cancer.In contrast,short-term statin use(OR=0.72,95%CI 0.54-0.96,P=0.000,I^2=80.1%)and long-term statin use(OR=0.70,95%CI 0.54-0.92,P=0.000,12=79.8%)significantly reduced pancreatic cancer risk.Notably,the high heterogeneity among the selected studies was eliminated by excluding the three studies that focused on restricted populations.Statin could significantly reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.
基金supported by Research Funds of the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No, 30860050), Guangxi Science Foundation (0991095), Foundation of Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University, Protection and Assessment, Monitoring and Conservation of Langur Project of National Forestry Administration of China, and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Serious Specialisation of Guangxi Natural Sciences Foundation (No. 2010GXNSFE013004). We thank the Guangxi Forestry Bureau, and Fusui Rare Animal Nature Reserve. We thank Dr. Ali Krzton for her assistance with language editing. We also ac- knowledge the critical comments of four anonymous reviewers.
文摘We collected data on sleeping site use from two groups of white-headed langurs Trachypithecus leucocephalus living in Fusui Nature Reserve, China between August 2007 and July 2008. This information was used to test several hypotheses regarding ultimate causes of sleeping site use in this primate. White-headed langurs slept either in caves (17 sites) or on a cliffledge (one site). They used all sleeping sites repeatedly, and reused some of them on consecutive nights; three nights was the longest consecutive use of any one sleep site. We suggest that langurs use sleeping sites to make approach and attack by predators difficult, and to increase their own familiarity with a location so as to improve chances for escape. Langurs' cryptic behaviors with an increased level of vigilance before entering sleeping sites may also help in decreasing the possibility of detection by predators. Group 1 spent more sleeping nights in the central area of their territory than expected; in contrast, group 2 spent more sleeping nights in the periphery of their territory, which overlaps with that of another groups, than expected. The position of sleeping site relative to the last feeding site of the day and the first feeding site of the subsequent morning indicated a strategy closer to that of a multiple central place forager than of a central place forager. These results suggest that territory defense and food access may play an important role in sleeping site use of white-headed langurs [Current Zoology 57 (3): 260-268, 2011].
文摘Predator odors can elicit fear responses in prey and predator odor recognition is generally associated with physiological responses. Prey species are often more likely to respond to the odor of familiar ra- ther than alien predators. However, predator na'ivety in an introduced prey species has rarely been investigated. We examined the physiological response, as shown by changes in ventilatory vari- ables, of an introduced terrestrial herbivore, the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, in Australia, to the odor of potential predators and to control odors (distilled water and horse), to explore if res- ponses were limited to historical (cat and fox) predators, or extended to historically novel predators (snake and quoll). All odors except distilled water elicited a response, with rabbits showing long- term higher respiratory frequencies and lower tidal volumes after introduction of the odors, indi- cating an increase in alertness. However, the intensity of the rabbits' reaction could not be directly linked to any pattern of response with respect to the history of predator-prey relationships. Rabbits exhibited significantly stronger reactions in response to both cat and quoll odors than they did to dis- tilled water, but responses to horse, fox, and snake odor were similar to that of water. Our results show that the introduced rabbit can respond to both historical and novel predators in Australia, and suggest that shared evolutionary history is not necessarily a prerequisite to predator odor recognition.
文摘This study presents a novel approach to evaluate the rate of aggregate risk of Invasive Alien Plant Species. Using risk values and grade of importance of weights of risk factors which may reflect invasiveness of plant species are considered. We use Linguistic Ordered Weighted Averaging operator to evaluate the grade of important of weights. Since the risk values and important weights are identified from two different linguistic term sets, fuzzy set theory techniques were used to combine the two sets. The rates obtained from the model were compared with NRA risk levels and the model was validated with data from known and non-invasive species. The model is improved by weighting the risk values of risk factors. The improved model produced significant results and resulted a better tracking system for identifying potential invaders than the conventional risk assessment.
文摘At least 1,065 introduced vertebrate species have been introduced in the United States and its territories, including at least 86 mammalian, 127 avian, 179 reptilian/amphibian, and 673 fish species. Examples in each major taxonomic group include domestic cat, small Indian mongoose, red fox, goat, pig, rabbit, rats, house mouse, gray squirrel, nutria, starling, Indian common myna, red-vented bulbul, brown treesnake, red-eared slider, brown trout, tilapia, and grass carp. We briefly review some of these species and the types of damage they cause. We then review the basic types of methods used for control or eradication of each taxonomic group, including physical, chemical, biological, and cultural methods. We discuss some of the challenges in managing these species, including issues with the use of toxicants, land access, public attitudes, and monitoring difficulties. Finally, we list some ongoing research and future research needs, including improved detection methods, improved attractants, improved barriers, improved capture methods, fertility control, and risk assessment methods [Current Zoology 57 (5): 559-567, 2011].