Connectivity differences between adult male and female patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder according to resting-state functional MRI

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder（ADHD） is a pervasive psychiatric disorder that affects both children and adults. Adult male and female patients with ADHD are differentially affected, but few studies have explored the differences. The purpose of this study was to quantify differences between adult male and female patients with ADHD based on neuroimaging and connectivity analysis. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained and preprocessed in 82 patients. Group-wise differences between male and female patients were quantified using degree centrality for different brain regions. The medial-, middle-, and inferior-frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, precuneus, supramarginal gyrus, superior- and middle-temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and cuneus were identified as regions with significant group-wise differences. The identified regions were correlated with clinical scores reflecting depression and anxiety and significant correlations were found. Adult ADHD patients exhibit different levels of depression and anxiety depending on sex, and our study provides insight into how changes in brain circuitry might differentially impact male and female ADHD patients.

Comparison of detection results of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy at different degrees in infant patients between brain electrical activity mapping, transcranial Doppler sonography and computer tomography examinations

BACKGROUND： It has been proved that brain electrical activity mapping （BEAM） and transcranial Doppler （TCD） detection can reflect the function of brain cell and its diseased degree of infant patients with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy （HIE）. OBJECTIVE： To observe the abnormal results of HIE at different degrees detected with BEAM and TCD in infant patients, and compare the detection results at the same time point between BEAM, TCD and computer tomography （CT） examinations. DESIGN ： Contrast observation SETTING： Departments of Neuro-electrophysiology and Pediatrics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical College. PARTICIPANTS： Totally 416 infant patients with HIE who received treatment in the Department of Newborn Infants, Second Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical College during January 2001 and December 2005. The infant patients, 278 male and 138 female, were at embryonic 37 to 42 weeks and weighing 2.0 to 4.1 kg, and they were diagnosed with CT and met the diagnostic criteria of HIE of newborn infants compiled by Department of Neonatology, Pediatric Academy, Chinese Medical Association. According to diagnostic criteria, 130 patients were mild abnormal, 196 moderate abnormal and 90 severe abnormal. The relatives of all the infant patients were informed of the experiment. METHOOS： BEAM and TCD examinations were performed in the involved 416 infant patients with HIE at different degrees with DYD2000 16-channel BEAM instrument and EME-2000 ultrasonograph before preliminary diagnosis treatment （within 1 month after birth） and 1,3,6,12 and 24 months after birth, and detected results were compared between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Comparison of detection results of HIE at different time points in infant patients between BEAM. TCD and CT examinations. RESULTS： All the 416 infant patients with HIE participated in the result analysis. （1） Comparison of the detected results in infant patients with mild HIE at different time points after birth between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations： BEAM examination showed that the recovery was delayed, and the abnormal rate of BEAM examination was significantly higher than that of CT examination 1 and 3 months after birth [55.4%（72/130）vs. 17.0% （22/130 ）,x^2=41.66 ;29.2% （ 38/130 ） vs. 6.2% （ 8/130 ）, x^2=23.77, P 〈 0.01 ], exceptional patients had mild abnormality and reached the normal level in about 6 months. TCD examination showed that the disease condition significantly improved and infant patients with HIE basically recovered 1 or 2 months after birth, while CT examination showed that infant patients recovered 3 or 4 months after birth. （2） Comparison of detection results of infant patients with moderate HIE at different time points between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations： The abnormal rate of BEAM examination was significantly higher than that of CT examination 1,3,6 and 12 months after birth [90.8% （178/196）,78.6% （154/196）,x^2=4.32,P 〈 0.05;64.3% （126/196）,43.9% （86/196） ,x^2=16.44 ;44.9% （88/196） ,22.4% （44/196）,x^2=22.11 ;21.4% （42/196）, 10.2% （20/196）,x^2=9.27, P 〈 0.01]. BEAM examination showed that there was still one patient who did not completely recovered in the 24^th month due to the relatives of infant patients did not combine the treatment,. TCD examination showed that the abnormal rate was 23.1%（30/196）in the 1^st month after birth, and all the patients recovered to the normal in the 3^rd month after birth, while CT examination showed that mild abnormality still existed in the 24^th month after birth （1.0% ,2/196）. （3） Comparison of detection results of infant patients with severe HIE at different time points between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations： The abnormal rate of BEAM examination was significantly higher than that of CT examination in the 1^st, 3^rd, 6^th and 12^th months after birth[86.7% （78/90）,44.4% （40/90）,x^2=35.53;62.2% （56/90）,31.1% （28/90）,x^2=17.51 ;37.8% （34/90）,6.7% （6/90）, x^2=27.14, P 〈 0.01]. BEAM examination showed that mild abnormality still existed in 4 infant patients in the 24^th month after birth. TCD examination showed that the abnormal rate was 11.1% （10/90） in the 3^rd month after birth, and all the infant patients recovered in the 6^th month after birth. CT examination showed that the abnormal rate was 6.7%（6/90） in the 12^th month after birth, and all of infant patients recovered to the normal in the 24^th month after birth.CONCLUSION ： BEAM is the direct index to detect brain function of infant patients with HIE, and positive reaction is still very sensitive in the tracking detection of convalescent period. The positive rate of morphological reaction in CT examination is superior to that in TCD examination, and the positive rate is very high in the acute period of HIE in examination.

Electrical Conduction in Deuterated Ammonium Dihydrogen Phosphate Crystals with Different Degrees of Deuteration

Conductivity measurements of deuterated ammonium dihydrogen phosphate （DADP） crystals with different deuterated degrees are described. The conductivities increase with the deuterium content, and the value of the a-direction is larger than that of the e-direction. Compared with DKDP crystals, DADP crystals have larger conductivities, which is partly due to the existence of A defects. The ac conductivity over the temperature range 25-170℃has shown a knee in the curve ofln（σT） versus T-1. The conductivity activation energy calculated by the slope of the high temperature region decreases with the deuterium content. The previously reported phase transition is not seen.

Study on Spatial Distribution Pattern of Thrip (Odentot hrips lati) on Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)

[Objective] The aim of this study was to reveal and analyze the spatial distribution pattern of thrip（Odentot hrips lati） on alfalfa（Medicago sativa）.[Method] Within alfalfa plantation areas,experimental plots with the sizes of 10×10,10×20,10×30,20×30,20×40,20×80,30×30,30×40,30×50,40×40,40×50,40×80 and 50×50 m2 respectively were set up in the randomly selected sampling sites of 1 m ×2 m in size.During bud-emerging period and florescence period of alfalfa in the experimental plots,the number of thrips was counted and their distribution pattern was measured using XU Ru-mei＇s method.[Result] During bud-emerging period of alfalfa,the spatial distribution of thrips assumed an elliptic shape sized of 40×30-40×40 cm2 at horizontal level and that presented an ascending-falling trend of tress density down from the top at vertical level.During the florescence period of alfalfa,it showed a homogeneous distribution or randomly distributed pattern at horizontal level and a falling trend of tress density from the top to the apex to the root at vertical level.[Conclusion] Our results provide theoretical basis for field selection of insect-resistant alfalfa varieties.

Submarine Pipeline Routing Risk Quantitative Analysis

A new method for submarine pipeline routing risk quantitative analysis was provided, and the study was developed from qualitative analysis to quantitative analysis.The characteristics of the potential risk of the submarine pipeline system were considered, and grey-mode identification theory was used. The study process was composed of three parts: establishing the indexes system of routing risk quantitative analysis, establishing the model of grey-mode identification for routing risk quantitative analysis, and establishing the standard of mode identification result. It is shown that this model can directly and concisely reflect the hazard degree of the routing through computing example, and prepares the routing selection for the future.

Cellular automata-based approach for digital image scrambling

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to investigate two-dimensional outer totalistic cellular automata(2D-OTCA)rules other than the Game of Life rule for image scrambling.This paper presents a digital image scrambling(DIS)technique based on 2D-OTCA for improving the scrambling degree.The comparison of scrambling performance and computational effort of proposed technique with existing CA-based image scrambling techniques is also presented.Design/methodology/approach–In this paper,a DIS technique based on 2D-OTCA with von Neumann neighborhood(NvN)is proposed.Effect of three important cellular automata(CA)parameters on gray difference degree(GDD)is analyzed:first the OTCA rules,afterwards two different boundary conditions and finally the number of CA generations(k)are tested.The authors selected a random sample of gray-scale images from the Berkeley Segmentation Data set and Benchmark,BSDS300(www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Research/Projects/CS/vision/bsds/)for the experiments.Initially,the CA is setup with a random initial configuration and the GDD is computed by testing all OTCA rules,one by one,for CA generations ranging from 1 to 10.A subset of these tested rules produces high GDD values and shows positive correlation with the k values.Subsequently,this sample of rules is used with different boundary conditions and applied to the sample image data set to analyze the effect of these boundary conditions on GDD.Finally,in order to compare the scrambling performance of the proposed technique with the existing CA-based image scrambling techniques,the authors use same initial CA configuration,number of CA generations,k紏10,periodic boundary conditions and the same test images.Findings–The experimental results are evaluated and analyzed using GDD parameter and then compared with existing techniques.The technique results in better GDD values with 2D-OTCA rule 171 when compared with existing techniques.The CPU running time of the proposed algorithm is also considerably small as compared to existing techniques.Originality/value–In this paper,the authors focused on using von Neumann neighborhood(NvN)to evolve the CA for image scrambling.The use of NvN reduced the computational effort on one hand,and reduced the CA rule space to 1,024 as compared to about 2.62 lakh rule space available with Moore neighborhood(NM)on the other.The results of this paper are based on original analysis of the proposed work.