The study on designs for the baseline parameterization has aroused attention in recent years. This paper focuses on two-level regular designs for the baseline parameterization. A general result on the relationship bet...The study on designs for the baseline parameterization has aroused attention in recent years. This paper focuses on two-level regular designs for the baseline parameterization. A general result on the relationship between K-aberration and word length pattern is developed.展开更多
In current dual porosity/permeability models,there exists a fundamental assumption that the adsorption-induced swelling is distributed uniformly within the representative elementary volume (REV),irrespective of its in...In current dual porosity/permeability models,there exists a fundamental assumption that the adsorption-induced swelling is distributed uniformly within the representative elementary volume (REV),irrespective of its internal structures and transient processes.However,both internal structures and transient processes can lead to the non-uniform swelling.In this study,we hypothesize that the non-uniform swelling is responsible for why coal permeability in experimental measurements is not only controlled by the effective stress but also is affected by the adsorption-induced swelling.We propose a concept of the swelling triangle composed of swelling paths to characterize the evolution of the non-uniform swelling and serve as a core link in coupled multiphysics.A swelling path is determined by a dimensionless volumetric ratio and a dimensionless swelling ratio.Different swelling paths have the same start and end point,and each swelling path represents a unique swelling case.The swelling path as the diagonal of the triangle represents the case of the uniform swelling while that as the two perpendicular boundaries represents the case of the localized swelling.The paths of all intermediate cases populate inside the triangle.The corresponding relations between the swelling path and the response of coal multiphysics are established by a non-uniform swelling coefficient.We define this method as the triangle approach and corresponding models as swelling path-based ones.The proposed concept and models are verified against a long-term experimental measurement of permeability and strains under constant effective stress.Our results demonstrate that during gas injection,coal multiphysics responses have a close dependence on the swelling path,and that in both future experiments and field predictions,this dependence must be considered.展开更多
Polymer flooding in fractured wells has been extensively applied in oilfields to enhance oil recovery.In contrast to water,polymer solution exhibits non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior such as effects of shear thinni...Polymer flooding in fractured wells has been extensively applied in oilfields to enhance oil recovery.In contrast to water,polymer solution exhibits non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior such as effects of shear thinning and shear thickening,polymer convection,diffusion,adsorption retention,inaccessible pore volume and reduced effective permeability.Meanwhile,the flux density and fracture conductivity along the hydraulic fracture are generally non-uniform due to the effects of pressure distribution,formation damage,and proppant breakage.In this paper,we present an oil-water two-phase flow model that captures these complex non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior,and non-uniform fracture characteristics in fractured polymer flooding.The hydraulic fracture is firstly divided into two parts:high-conductivity fracture near the wellbore and low-conductivity fracture in the far-wellbore section.A hybrid grid system,including perpendicular bisection(PEBI)and Cartesian grid,is applied to discrete the partial differential flow equations,and the local grid refinement method is applied in the near-wellbore region to accurately calculate the pressure distribution and shear rate of polymer solution.The combination of polymer behavior characterizations and numerical flow simulations are applied,resulting in the calculation for the distribution of water saturation,polymer concentration and reservoir pressure.Compared with the polymer flooding well with uniform fracture conductivity,this non-uniform fracture conductivity model exhibits the larger pressure difference,and the shorter bilinear flow period due to the decrease of fracture flow ability in the far-wellbore section.The field case of the fall-off test demonstrates that the proposed method characterizes fracture characteristics more accurately,and yields fracture half-lengths that better match engineering reality,enabling a quantitative segmented characterization of the near-wellbore section with high fracture conductivity and the far-wellbore section with low fracture conductivity.The novelty of this paper is the analysis of pressure performances caused by the fracture dynamics and polymer rheology,as well as an analysis method that derives formation and fracture parameters based on the pressure and its derivative curves.展开更多
Radioheliographs can obtain solar images at high temporal and spatial resolution,with a high dynamic range.These are among the most important instruments for studying solar radio bursts,understanding solar eruption ev...Radioheliographs can obtain solar images at high temporal and spatial resolution,with a high dynamic range.These are among the most important instruments for studying solar radio bursts,understanding solar eruption events,and conducting space weather forecasting.This study aims to explore the effective use of radioheliographs for solar observations,specifically for imaging coronal mass ejections(CME),to track their evolution and provide space weather warnings.We have developed an imaging simulation program based on the principle of aperture synthesis imaging,covering the entire data processing flow from antenna configuration to dirty map generation.For grid processing,we propose an improved non-uniform fast Fourier transform(NUFFT)method to provide superior image quality.Using simulated imaging of radio coronal mass ejections,we provide practical recommendations for the performance of radioheliographs.This study provides important support for the validation and calibration of radioheliograph data processing,and is expected to profoundly enhance our understanding of solar activities.展开更多
When the cycle slips take place in the attitude determination of a moving platform, the precision of the attitude will be impaired badly. A method of cycle slip detection and correction is proposed, which is suitable ...When the cycle slips take place in the attitude determination of a moving platform, the precision of the attitude will be impaired badly. A method of cycle slip detection and correction is proposed, which is suitable to the dynamic measurement using GPS carrier phase: the cycle slips detection is first achieved by triple difference observables, then the cycle slips correction is performed with baseline length constraint. The simulation results show that the proposed method is effective to the dynamic cycle slips problem.展开更多
Urban topsoil is the most frequent interface between human society and natural environment.The accumulation of heavy metals in the urban topsoil has a direct effect on residents'life and health.The geochemical bas...Urban topsoil is the most frequent interface between human society and natural environment.The accumulation of heavy metals in the urban topsoil has a direct effect on residents'life and health.The geochemical baseline of heavy metals is an objective description of the general level of heavy metals in the urban topsoil.Meanwhile,the determination of geochemical baseline is necessary for regional environmental management,especially in coal cities prone to heavy metal pollution.Heavy metal pollution has become an environmental problem in Fuxin City,China for a long time.To establish the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City and to evaluate the ecological risk of the topsoil,we collected 75 topsoil samples(0–20 cm)and analyzed the concentrations of Cu,Ni,Zn,Pb,Cr,Cd,Hg and As through X-ray fluorescence spectrometry,atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry.We determined the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City by using iteration removal,box-whisker plot,cumulative frequency curve and reference metal normalization;evaluated the contamination risk and ecological risk of the topsoil by using the baseline factor index,Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index;and identified the source category of heavy metals in the topsoil by using a pedigree clustering heatmap.Results showed that the geochemical baseline values were 42.86,89.34,92.23,60.55,145.21,0.09,0.08 and 4.17 mg/kg for Cu,Ni,Zn,Pb,Cr,Cd,Hg and As,respectively.The results of Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index indicated that the urban topsoil in the study area was slightly contaminated and suffering low potential ecological risk.The main contaminated areas dominated in the middle part and northeast part of the study area,especially in the western Haizhou Strip Mine.The result of baseline factor index indicated that Hg and Cd were the major pollution elements.Using a pedigree clustering heatmap,we divided the sources of these heavy metals into three types:type I for Ni and Cr,largely represented the enrichment of heavy metals from natural sources;type II for Cu,Pb,Zn,Cd and As,mainly represented the enrichment of heavy metals from anthropogenic sources;and type III for Hg,represented the form of both natural and anthropogenic inputs.展开更多
Baseline offset in digital strong-motion acceleration record and initial velocity can produce unrealistic results for ground velocity and displacement derived from the acceleration by integration. A new method is prop...Baseline offset in digital strong-motion acceleration record and initial velocity can produce unrealistic results for ground velocity and displacement derived from the acceleration by integration. A new method is proposed for the baseline correction and initial velocity calculation. It is based on linear least-squares fitting of the pre-event portion of velocity derived from the uncorrected acceleration data. Compared with the conventional method,which is based on removing the mean values of the pre-event portions of the acceleration and velocity traces,this method has clearer physical meaning and better stability.展开更多
Bone is an endocrine organ involved in modulating glucose homeostasis. The role of the bone formation marker osteocalcin (OCN) in predicting diabetes was reported, but with conflicting results. No study has explored...Bone is an endocrine organ involved in modulating glucose homeostasis. The role of the bone formation marker osteocalcin (OCN) in predicting diabetes was reported, but with conflicting results. No study has explored the association between baseline bone resorption activity and incident diabetes or prediabetes during follow-up. Our objective was to examine the relationship between the baseline bone resorption marker crosslinked C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) and glycemic dysregulation after 4 years. This longitudinal study was conducted in a university teaching hospital. A total of 195 normal glucose tolerant (NGT) women at baseline were invited for follow-up. The incidence of diabetes and prediabetes (collectively defined as dysglycemia) was recorded. A total of 128 individuals completed the 4-year study. The overall conversion rate from NGT to dysglycemia was 31.3%. The incidence of dysglycemia was lowest in the middle tertile [16.3% (95% confidence interval (CI), 6.8%-30.70/0)] compared with the lower [31.0% (95% CI, 17.2%-46.1%)] and upper [46.5% (95% CI, 31.2%-62.6%)] tertiles of CTX, with a significant difference seen between the middle and upper tertiles (P = 0.002 5). After adjusting for multiple confounding variables, the upper tertile of baseline CTX was associated with an increased risk of incident dysglycemia, with an odds ratio of 7.09 (95% CI, 1.73-28.99) when the middle tertile was the reference. Osteoclasts actively regulate glucose homeostasis in a biphasic model that moderately enhanced bone resorption marker CTX at baseline provides protective effects against the deterioration of glucose metabolism, whereas an overactive osteoclastic function contributes to an increased risk of subsequent dysglycemia.展开更多
This study was aimed to evaluate the agreement between the self-reported sodium intake level and 24-h urine sodium excretion level in Chinese. The 24-h urine collection was conducted among 2112 adults aged 18-69 years...This study was aimed to evaluate the agreement between the self-reported sodium intake level and 24-h urine sodium excretion level in Chinese. The 24-h urine collection was conducted among 2112 adults aged 18-69 years randomly selected in Shandong Province, China. The subjects were asked whether their sodium intake was low, moderate, or high. The weighted kappa statistics was calculated to assess the agreement between 24-h urine sodium excretion level and self-reported sodium intake level. One third of the subjects reported low sodium intake level. About 70% of the subjects had mean 24-h sodium excretion 〉9 g/d, but reported low or moderate sodium intake.展开更多
The penalized least squares(PLS)method with appropriate weights has proved to be a successful baseline estimation method for various spectral analyses.It can extract the baseline from the spectrum while retaining the ...The penalized least squares(PLS)method with appropriate weights has proved to be a successful baseline estimation method for various spectral analyses.It can extract the baseline from the spectrum while retaining the signal peaks in the presence of random noise.The algorithm is implemented by iterating over the weights of the data points.In this study,we propose a new approach for assigning weights based on the Bayesian rule.The proposed method provides a self-consistent weighting formula and performs well,particularly for baselines with different curvature components.This method was applied to analyze Schottky spectra obtained in 86Kr projectile fragmentation measurements in the experimental Cooler Storage Ring(CSRe)at Lanzhou.It provides an accurate and reliable storage lifetime with a smaller error bar than existing PLS methods.It is also a universal baseline-subtraction algorithm that can be used for spectrum-related experiments,such as precision nuclear mass and lifetime measurements in storage rings.展开更多
AIM: To characterize the baseline profiles of patients aged 70 years and above with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODS: A series of 127 consecutive patients with HCC were enrolled between 2000 and 2004, and none o...AIM: To characterize the baseline profiles of patients aged 70 years and above with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODS: A series of 127 consecutive patients with HCC were enrolled between 2000 and 2004, and none of them had been diagnosed as having HCC previously. Baseline profiles, including parameters of hepatic function such as serum transaminase and prothrombin time [PT (% activity)] were compared between patients aged ≥70 and <70 years.RESULTS: Patients ≥70 years old showed significantly lower levels of aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.04)and alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.01), and significantly higher PTs (P= 0.04) and platelet counts (P = 0.02).Concomitantly, among ≥70-year-old patients, HCC was more common in non-cirrhotics, whereas among patients <70 years old, HCC was more common in cirrhotics. There was no significant difference between the groups in the number or size of tumors.CONCLUSION: Older HCC patients showed less inflammation and better preservation of hepatic function, indicating that not only cirrhotic patients but also noncirrhotic patients should be considered as a high-risk group among the elderly.展开更多
文摘The study on designs for the baseline parameterization has aroused attention in recent years. This paper focuses on two-level regular designs for the baseline parameterization. A general result on the relationship between K-aberration and word length pattern is developed.
基金supported by the Australian Research Council(Grant No.DP200101293)supported by the UWA-China Joint Scholarships(201906430030).
文摘In current dual porosity/permeability models,there exists a fundamental assumption that the adsorption-induced swelling is distributed uniformly within the representative elementary volume (REV),irrespective of its internal structures and transient processes.However,both internal structures and transient processes can lead to the non-uniform swelling.In this study,we hypothesize that the non-uniform swelling is responsible for why coal permeability in experimental measurements is not only controlled by the effective stress but also is affected by the adsorption-induced swelling.We propose a concept of the swelling triangle composed of swelling paths to characterize the evolution of the non-uniform swelling and serve as a core link in coupled multiphysics.A swelling path is determined by a dimensionless volumetric ratio and a dimensionless swelling ratio.Different swelling paths have the same start and end point,and each swelling path represents a unique swelling case.The swelling path as the diagonal of the triangle represents the case of the uniform swelling while that as the two perpendicular boundaries represents the case of the localized swelling.The paths of all intermediate cases populate inside the triangle.The corresponding relations between the swelling path and the response of coal multiphysics are established by a non-uniform swelling coefficient.We define this method as the triangle approach and corresponding models as swelling path-based ones.The proposed concept and models are verified against a long-term experimental measurement of permeability and strains under constant effective stress.Our results demonstrate that during gas injection,coal multiphysics responses have a close dependence on the swelling path,and that in both future experiments and field predictions,this dependence must be considered.
基金This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52104049)the Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by Beijing Association for Science and Technology(No.BYESS2023262)Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum,Beijing(No.2462022BJRC004).
文摘Polymer flooding in fractured wells has been extensively applied in oilfields to enhance oil recovery.In contrast to water,polymer solution exhibits non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior such as effects of shear thinning and shear thickening,polymer convection,diffusion,adsorption retention,inaccessible pore volume and reduced effective permeability.Meanwhile,the flux density and fracture conductivity along the hydraulic fracture are generally non-uniform due to the effects of pressure distribution,formation damage,and proppant breakage.In this paper,we present an oil-water two-phase flow model that captures these complex non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior,and non-uniform fracture characteristics in fractured polymer flooding.The hydraulic fracture is firstly divided into two parts:high-conductivity fracture near the wellbore and low-conductivity fracture in the far-wellbore section.A hybrid grid system,including perpendicular bisection(PEBI)and Cartesian grid,is applied to discrete the partial differential flow equations,and the local grid refinement method is applied in the near-wellbore region to accurately calculate the pressure distribution and shear rate of polymer solution.The combination of polymer behavior characterizations and numerical flow simulations are applied,resulting in the calculation for the distribution of water saturation,polymer concentration and reservoir pressure.Compared with the polymer flooding well with uniform fracture conductivity,this non-uniform fracture conductivity model exhibits the larger pressure difference,and the shorter bilinear flow period due to the decrease of fracture flow ability in the far-wellbore section.The field case of the fall-off test demonstrates that the proposed method characterizes fracture characteristics more accurately,and yields fracture half-lengths that better match engineering reality,enabling a quantitative segmented characterization of the near-wellbore section with high fracture conductivity and the far-wellbore section with low fracture conductivity.The novelty of this paper is the analysis of pressure performances caused by the fracture dynamics and polymer rheology,as well as an analysis method that derives formation and fracture parameters based on the pressure and its derivative curves.
基金supported by the grants of National Natural Science Foundation of China(42374219,42127804)the Qilu Young Researcher Project of Shandong University.
文摘Radioheliographs can obtain solar images at high temporal and spatial resolution,with a high dynamic range.These are among the most important instruments for studying solar radio bursts,understanding solar eruption events,and conducting space weather forecasting.This study aims to explore the effective use of radioheliographs for solar observations,specifically for imaging coronal mass ejections(CME),to track their evolution and provide space weather warnings.We have developed an imaging simulation program based on the principle of aperture synthesis imaging,covering the entire data processing flow from antenna configuration to dirty map generation.For grid processing,we propose an improved non-uniform fast Fourier transform(NUFFT)method to provide superior image quality.Using simulated imaging of radio coronal mass ejections,we provide practical recommendations for the performance of radioheliographs.This study provides important support for the validation and calibration of radioheliograph data processing,and is expected to profoundly enhance our understanding of solar activities.
文摘When the cycle slips take place in the attitude determination of a moving platform, the precision of the attitude will be impaired badly. A method of cycle slip detection and correction is proposed, which is suitable to the dynamic measurement using GPS carrier phase: the cycle slips detection is first achieved by triple difference observables, then the cycle slips correction is performed with baseline length constraint. The simulation results show that the proposed method is effective to the dynamic cycle slips problem.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41271064)the Foundation of Liaoning Educational Committee,China(L201783640)the PhD Research Startup Foundation of Liaoning University,China(BS2018L014)。
文摘Urban topsoil is the most frequent interface between human society and natural environment.The accumulation of heavy metals in the urban topsoil has a direct effect on residents'life and health.The geochemical baseline of heavy metals is an objective description of the general level of heavy metals in the urban topsoil.Meanwhile,the determination of geochemical baseline is necessary for regional environmental management,especially in coal cities prone to heavy metal pollution.Heavy metal pollution has become an environmental problem in Fuxin City,China for a long time.To establish the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City and to evaluate the ecological risk of the topsoil,we collected 75 topsoil samples(0–20 cm)and analyzed the concentrations of Cu,Ni,Zn,Pb,Cr,Cd,Hg and As through X-ray fluorescence spectrometry,atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry.We determined the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City by using iteration removal,box-whisker plot,cumulative frequency curve and reference metal normalization;evaluated the contamination risk and ecological risk of the topsoil by using the baseline factor index,Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index;and identified the source category of heavy metals in the topsoil by using a pedigree clustering heatmap.Results showed that the geochemical baseline values were 42.86,89.34,92.23,60.55,145.21,0.09,0.08 and 4.17 mg/kg for Cu,Ni,Zn,Pb,Cr,Cd,Hg and As,respectively.The results of Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index indicated that the urban topsoil in the study area was slightly contaminated and suffering low potential ecological risk.The main contaminated areas dominated in the middle part and northeast part of the study area,especially in the western Haizhou Strip Mine.The result of baseline factor index indicated that Hg and Cd were the major pollution elements.Using a pedigree clustering heatmap,we divided the sources of these heavy metals into three types:type I for Ni and Cr,largely represented the enrichment of heavy metals from natural sources;type II for Cu,Pb,Zn,Cd and As,mainly represented the enrichment of heavy metals from anthropogenic sources;and type III for Hg,represented the form of both natural and anthropogenic inputs.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China( 41004020)the Director Foundation of Institute of Seismology,CEA(IS200926044)
文摘Baseline offset in digital strong-motion acceleration record and initial velocity can produce unrealistic results for ground velocity and displacement derived from the acceleration by integration. A new method is proposed for the baseline correction and initial velocity calculation. It is based on linear least-squares fitting of the pre-event portion of velocity derived from the uncorrected acceleration data. Compared with the conventional method,which is based on removing the mean values of the pre-event portions of the acceleration and velocity traces,this method has clearer physical meaning and better stability.
基金supported by projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81370977,81570796 and 81370018)by the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee(14411960900)
文摘Bone is an endocrine organ involved in modulating glucose homeostasis. The role of the bone formation marker osteocalcin (OCN) in predicting diabetes was reported, but with conflicting results. No study has explored the association between baseline bone resorption activity and incident diabetes or prediabetes during follow-up. Our objective was to examine the relationship between the baseline bone resorption marker crosslinked C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) and glycemic dysregulation after 4 years. This longitudinal study was conducted in a university teaching hospital. A total of 195 normal glucose tolerant (NGT) women at baseline were invited for follow-up. The incidence of diabetes and prediabetes (collectively defined as dysglycemia) was recorded. A total of 128 individuals completed the 4-year study. The overall conversion rate from NGT to dysglycemia was 31.3%. The incidence of dysglycemia was lowest in the middle tertile [16.3% (95% confidence interval (CI), 6.8%-30.70/0)] compared with the lower [31.0% (95% CI, 17.2%-46.1%)] and upper [46.5% (95% CI, 31.2%-62.6%)] tertiles of CTX, with a significant difference seen between the middle and upper tertiles (P = 0.002 5). After adjusting for multiple confounding variables, the upper tertile of baseline CTX was associated with an increased risk of incident dysglycemia, with an odds ratio of 7.09 (95% CI, 1.73-28.99) when the middle tertile was the reference. Osteoclasts actively regulate glucose homeostasis in a biphasic model that moderately enhanced bone resorption marker CTX at baseline provides protective effects against the deterioration of glucose metabolism, whereas an overactive osteoclastic function contributes to an increased risk of subsequent dysglycemia.
基金supported by funds from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention(China CDC)the National Center for Chronic and Non-communicable Disease Control and Prevention,China CDCthe Technical Development Plan in Shandong(implemented by Shandong CDC,Grant number:2012GSF11828)
文摘This study was aimed to evaluate the agreement between the self-reported sodium intake level and 24-h urine sodium excretion level in Chinese. The 24-h urine collection was conducted among 2112 adults aged 18-69 years randomly selected in Shandong Province, China. The subjects were asked whether their sodium intake was low, moderate, or high. The weighted kappa statistics was calculated to assess the agreement between 24-h urine sodium excretion level and self-reported sodium intake level. One third of the subjects reported low sodium intake level. About 70% of the subjects had mean 24-h sodium excretion 〉9 g/d, but reported low or moderate sodium intake.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2018YFA0404401)CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research(No.YSBR-002)Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.XDB34000000).
文摘The penalized least squares(PLS)method with appropriate weights has proved to be a successful baseline estimation method for various spectral analyses.It can extract the baseline from the spectrum while retaining the signal peaks in the presence of random noise.The algorithm is implemented by iterating over the weights of the data points.In this study,we propose a new approach for assigning weights based on the Bayesian rule.The proposed method provides a self-consistent weighting formula and performs well,particularly for baselines with different curvature components.This method was applied to analyze Schottky spectra obtained in 86Kr projectile fragmentation measurements in the experimental Cooler Storage Ring(CSRe)at Lanzhou.It provides an accurate and reliable storage lifetime with a smaller error bar than existing PLS methods.It is also a universal baseline-subtraction algorithm that can be used for spectrum-related experiments,such as precision nuclear mass and lifetime measurements in storage rings.
文摘AIM: To characterize the baseline profiles of patients aged 70 years and above with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODS: A series of 127 consecutive patients with HCC were enrolled between 2000 and 2004, and none of them had been diagnosed as having HCC previously. Baseline profiles, including parameters of hepatic function such as serum transaminase and prothrombin time [PT (% activity)] were compared between patients aged ≥70 and <70 years.RESULTS: Patients ≥70 years old showed significantly lower levels of aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.04)and alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.01), and significantly higher PTs (P= 0.04) and platelet counts (P = 0.02).Concomitantly, among ≥70-year-old patients, HCC was more common in non-cirrhotics, whereas among patients <70 years old, HCC was more common in cirrhotics. There was no significant difference between the groups in the number or size of tumors.CONCLUSION: Older HCC patients showed less inflammation and better preservation of hepatic function, indicating that not only cirrhotic patients but also noncirrhotic patients should be considered as a high-risk group among the elderly.