Meta-analysis of effects of obstructive sleep apnea on the renin-angiotensinaldosterone system

Background Obstructive sleep apnea （OSA） is the most common cause of resistant hypertension, which has been proposed to result from activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system （RAAS）. We meta-analyzed the effects of OSA on plasma levels of RAAS components. Methods Full-text studies published on MEDL1NE and EMBASE analyzing fasting plasma levels of at least one RAAS component in adults with OSA with or without hypertension. OSA was diagnosed as an apnea-hypopnea index or respiratory disturbance index 〉 5. Study quality was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, and heterogeneity was assessed using the 12 statistic. Results from individual studies were synthesized using inverse variance and pooled using a random-effects model. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and meta-regression were performed, and risk of publication bias was assessed. Results The meta-analysis included 13 studies, of which 10 reported results on renin （n = 470 cases and controls）, 7 on angiotensin II （AnglI, n = 384）, and 9 on aldosterone （n = 439）. AnglI levels were significantly higher in OSA than in controls [mean differences = 3.39 ng/L, 95% CI： 2.00-4.79, P 〈 0.00001], while aldosterone levels were significantly higher in OSA with hypertension than OSA but not with hypertension （mean differences = 1.32 ng/dL, 95% CI： 0.58-2.07, P = 0.0005）. Meta-analysis of all studies suggested no significant differences in aldosterone between OSA and controls, but a significant pooled mean difference of 1.35 ng/mL （95% CI： 0.88-1.82, P 〈 0.00001） emerged after excluding one small-sample study. No significant risk of publication bias was detected among all included studies. Conelusions OSA is associated with higher AnglI and aldosterone levels, espe- cially in hypertensive patients. OSA may cause hypertension, at least in part, by stimulating RAAS activity.

TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism is associated with esophageal cancer risk:A meta-analysis

AIM:To investigate the association between TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and esophageal cancer(EC)risk using meta-analysis. METHODS:All eligible studies published before March 1,2010 were selected by searching PubMed using keywords"p53"or"TP53","polymorphism"or"variation", "esophageal"and"cancer"or"carcinoma".Crude odds ratios(ORs)with 95%confidence intervals(CIs)were assessed for EC risk associated with TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism using fixed-and random-effects models. RESULTS:Nine case-control studies involving 5545 subjects were included in this meta-analysis.Significantly reduced risk of EC was associated with TP53genotypes for Arg/Arg+Arg/Pro vs Pro/Pro(OR= 0.73,95%CI:0.57-0.94,P=0.014).Subgroup analyses according to the source of controls and the specimens used for determining TP53 Arg72Pro genotypes or sample size showed that significantly reduced risk was observed only in studies which have populationbased controls(Arg/Arg vs Pro/Pro:OR=0.56,95% CI:0.47-0.66,P<0.001),and use white blood cells or normal tissue to assess TP53 genotypes of cases (Arg/Arg vs Pro/Pro:OR=0.56,95%CI:0.47-0.65,P <0.001)or include at least 200 subjects(Arg/Arg vs Pro/Pro:OR=0.56,95%CI:0.47-0.65,P<0.001). Analysis restricted to well-designed studies also supported the significantly decreased risk of EC(Arg/Arg vs Pro/Pro:OR=0.54,95%CI:0.46-0.64,P<0.001). CONCLUSION:TP53 Arg72 carriers are significantly associated with decreased EC risk.Nevertheless,more welldesigned studies are needed to confirm our findings.

破解涉诉信访工作难题

强化司法职责、统筹协调各方,推动建立涉诉信访工作新格局。要紧紧依靠党的领导解决涉诉信访工作中遇到的困难和问题涉诉信访工作是人民法院的重要司法职责,也是人民法院的一项紧迫而重要的政治任务。要认真贯彻落实中央和最高人民法院的决策部署。

构建社会管理新体系

党的十八大指出:加强社会建设,是社会和谐稳定的重要保证,必须从维护最广大人民根本利益的高度,加强和创新社会管理,推动社会主义和谐社会建设。当前,我国正处于经济社会转型的重要时期,经济结构和社会结构发生深刻变化,利益关系、诉求关系和价值观呈现多元化,新的社会矛盾和问题显著增加。因此,笔者认为,在新的形势下,

Graph attention convolutional neural network model for chemical poisoning of honey bees’ prediction

The impact of pesticides on insect pollinators has caused worldwide concern. Both global bee decline and stopping the use of pesticides may have serious consequences for food security. Automated and accurate prediction of chemical poisoning of honey bees is a challenging task owing to a lack of understanding of chemical toxicity and introspection. Deep learning(DL) shows potential utility for general and highly variable tasks across fields. Here, we developed a new DL model of deep graph attention convolutional neural networks(GACNN) with the combination of undirected graph(UG) and attention convolutional neural networks(ACNN) to accurately classify chemical poisoning of honey bees. We used a training dataset of 720 pesticides and an external validation dataset of 90 pesticides, which is one order of magnitude larger than the previous datasets. We tested its performance in two ways: poisonous versus nonpoisonous and GACNN versus other frequently-used machine learning models. The first case represents the accuracy in identifying bee poisonous chemicals. The second represents performance advantages. The GACNN achieved ~6% higher performance for predicting toxic samples and more stable with ~7%Matthews Correlation Coefficient(MCC) higher compared to all tested models, demonstrating GACNN is capable of accurately classifying chemicals and has considerable potential in practical applications.In addition, we also summarized and evaluated the mechanisms underlying the response of honey bees to chemical exposure based on the mapping of molecular similarity. Moreover, our cloud platform(http://beetox.cn) of this model provides low-cost universal access to information, which could vitally enhance environmental risk assessment.

Fate Processes of Chlorobenzenes in Soil and Potential Remediation Strategies: A Review

Chlorobenzenes （CBs） are a group of organic pollutants that pose a high environmental risk due to their toxicity, persistence and possible transfer in the food chain. Available data in literature show that CBs axe detected in different environmental compartments such as soil, water, air and sediment. The widespread presence of CBs in the environment is related to their former extensive use in agriculture and industry. Some CBs are ranked in the list of priority pollutants by the Stockholm Convention, and their reduction or elimination from the environment is therefore of high importance. Environmental risk assessment of CBs requires knowledge on the role and importance of the main environmental fate processes, especially in soil. Furthermore, development of remediation strategies for reduction or elimination of CBs from the environment is related to the enhancement of fate processes that increase their dissipation in various environmental compartments. The main objectives of the current review were to present up-to-date data on fate processes of CBs in the soil environment and to explore possible remediation strategies for soils contaminated with CBs. Dechlorination of highly-chlorinated benzenes is the main degradation pathway under anaerobic conditions, leading to the formation of lower-chlorinated benzenes. Biodegradation of lower-chlorinated benzenes is well documented, especially by strains of adapted or specialized microorganisms. Development of techniques that combine dechlorination of highly-chlorinated benzehes with biodegradation or biomineralization of lower-chlorinated benzenes can result in useful tools for remediation of soils contaminated with CBs. In addition, immobilization of CBs in soil by use of different amendments is a useful method for reducing the environmental risk of CBs.

Valuation of equity-indexed annuities with regime-switching jump diffusion risk and stochastic mortality risk

This paper extends the model and analysis of Lin, Tan and Yang （2009）. We assume that the financial market follows a regime-switching jump-diffusion model and the mortality satisfies Levy process. We price the point to point and annual reset EIAs by Esscher transform method under Merton＇s assumption and obtain the closed form pricing formulas. Under two cases： with mortality risk and without mortality risk, the effects of the model parameters on the EIAs pricing are illustrated through numerical experiments.

Characterization and assessment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from typical industries

VOCs play an increasingly important role in affecting air quality and threatening human health in China in recent years,where industry activities show a significant contribution to VOCs emission.In this article we report our long term study of industrial VOCs emissions of six major industries (vehicle manufacturing,printing,equipment coating,electronic manufacturing,furniture manufacturing and bio-pharming) on the aspects of emission characteristics,environmental impact and health risk assessment,and control challenge analysis with the purpose to obtain in-depth understanding of industry VOCs emissions and offer some original basements for national control and management of industry VOCs emissions.This study shows that all these industries give middle or low emission with total VOCs concentration less than 1000 mg/m3 at each exhaust pipe.Benzenes,esters,alcohols,ketones,alkanes,chloroalkanes and alkenes were detected as the major emission components and the most frequently monitored VOCs were benzenes,which varied obviously with different processes and industries.The environmental impact assessments indicate that vehicle manufacturing and benzenes should be prior controlled with the purpose to reduce air pollution.While,health risk assessments suggest that furniture manufacturing and chloroalkanes should be firstly controlled.Control analysis indicates that developing technologies with low cost and high efficiency and establishing and completing specific industry emission standards/regulations are the two key issues in VOCs emission management at present stage.

INTEREST RATE RISK PREMIUM AND EQUITY VALUATION

The authors employ the recent stochastic-control-based approach to financial mathematicsto solve a problem of determination of the risk premium for a stochastic interest rate model,andthe corresponding problem of equity valuation.The risk premium is determined explicitly,by meansof solving a corresponding partial differential equation (PDE),in two forms:one,time-dependent,corresponding to a finite time contract expiration,and the simpler version corresponding to perpetualcontracts.As stocks are perpetual contracts,when solving the problem of equity valuation,the latterform of the risk premium is used.By means of solving the general pricing PDE,an efficient equityvaluation method was developed that is a combination of some sophisticated explicit formulas,and anumerical procedure.