Referral for anorectal function evaluation is indicated in 65% and beneficial in 92% of patients

AIM: To determine the indicated referrals to a tertiary centre for patients with anorectal symptoms, the effect of the advised treatment and the discomfort of the tests.METHODS: In a retrospective study, patients referred for anorectal function evaluation (AFE) between May 2004 and October 2006 were sent a questionnaire, as were the doctors who referred them. AFE consisted of anal manometry, rectal compliance measurement and anal endosonography. An indicated referral was defined as needing AFE to establish a diagnosis with clinical consequence (fecal incontinence without diarrhea, 3rd degree anal sphincter rupture, congenital anorectal disorder, inflammatory bowel disease with anorectal complaints and preoperative in patients for re-anastomosis or enterostoma, anal fissure, fistula or constipation). Anal ultrasound is always indicated in patients with fistula, anal manometry and rectal compliance when impaired continence reserve is suspected. The therapeutic effect was noted as improvement, no improvement but reassurance, and deterioration.RESULTS: From the 216 patients referred, 167 (78%) returned the questionnaire. The referrals were indicated in 65%. Of these, 80% followed the proposed advice. Improvement was achieved in 35% and a reassurance in 57% of the patients, no difference existed between patient groups. On a VAS scale (1 to 10) symptoms improved from 4.0 to 7.2. Most patients reported no or little discomfort with AFE. CONCLUSION: Referral for AFE was indicated in 65%. Beneficial effect was seen in 92%: 35% improved and 57% was reassured. Advice was followed in 80%. Better instruction about indication for AFE referral is warranted.

Functional evaluation for effective compositions in seed oil of Korean pine

The effect of seed oil of Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) on the rats' blood-fat and its anti-ageing function was stud-ied for appraising the efficacy of the seed oil of Korean pine. Sixty experimental rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (half males and half females in each group) as normal control group, high fat diet control group, and three groups (Group 1 Group 2, Group 3) that were fed with feedstuff with the contents of the seed oil of 2.0g/(kgd-1), 4.0g/(kgd-1) and 8.0g/(kgd-1), respec-tively. The indexes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and anti-oxidation capacity (AOC) were measured by Reagent Kit method. It was found that the seed oil of the Korean pine could reduce the content of triglyc-eride and improve SOD as well as GSH-PX activity in serum. These indexes of the rats in Group 2 fed with Korean pine seed oil of 4.0 g/(kgd-1) reached the significant level and those of rats in Group 3 fed with the seed oil of 8.0 g/(kgd-1) reached the extremely significant level. The results indicated the seed oil of Korean pine had function of regulating the level of blood-fat and anti-ageing.

Distributed Oblivious Function Evaluation and Its Applications

This paper is about distributed oblivious function evaluation (DOFE). In this setting one party (Alice) has a functionf(x), and the other party (Bob) with an input α wants to learnf(α) in an oblivious way with the help of a set of servers. What Alice should do is to share her secret functionf(x) among the servers. Bob obtains what he should get by interacting with the servers. This paper proposes the model and security requirements for DOFE and analyzes three distributed oblivious polynomial evaluation protocols presented in the paper. Keywords oblivious function evaluation - oblivious polynomial evaluation - secure multiparty computation - distributed - information security The research is supported by the National Basic Research 973 Program of China under Grant No. 1999035802 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.60273029.Hong-Da Li was born in 1960. He received the Ph.D. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University in 2001. His current research interests are cryptology and cryptographic protocol.Xiong Yang received the B.S. degree in mathematics from Yan'an University, China, in 1984. He is an associate professor in College of Economy and Trade at South China University of Tropical Agriculture. His research interest is information security.Deng-Guo Feng was born in 1963. He is now a Ph.D. supervisor. His research interests focus on information security.Bao Li was born in 1965. He received the Ph.D. degree in cryptography in 1995 from Xidian University. His research interests include cryptographic protocols and public key cryptosystems.

Synthetically quantitative evaluation function of characteristic parameters on CO_2 arc welding process

The statistical probability and their variation regularity of the measurable characteristic parameters in the CO 2 arc welding droplet short circuiting transfer process have been studied. The statistical analysis shows that the sensitivity of each characteristic parameter with regard to the variation of the short circuiting transfer process is different. The sensitivity of 4 kinds among these characteristic parameters is more intense than that of the short circuiting transfer frequency. In order to take account of the synthetic influence of these characteristic parameters, by means of the characteristic parameters synthetic value, a quantitative evaluation function is built up to describe and evaluate the short circuiting transfer process of CO 2 arc welding in real time. The testing shows that the evaluation function can give a suitable synthetic valuation for the short circuiting transfer process with a variety of welding variables.

Functionality evaluation of system of systems architecture based on extended influence diagrams

System of systems architecture（SoSA） has received increasing emphasis by scholars since Zachman ignited its flame in 1987. Given its complexity and abstractness, it is critical to validate and evaluate SoSA to ensure requirements have been met.Multiple qualities are discussed in the literature of SoSA evaluation, while research on functionality is scarce. In order to assess SoSA functionality, an extended influence diagram（EID） is developed in this paper. Meanwhile, a simulation method is proposed to elicit the conditional probabilities in EID through designing and executing SoSA. An illustrative anti-missile architecture case is introduced for EID development, architecture design, and simulation.

Postoperative functional evaluation of gastrectomy for gastric cancer

To improve the quality of surgical procedures for gastric cancer,it is essential to consider many components comprehensively,including gastric motility,small intestinal absorption,hormones that affect gastric motility and appetite,presence or absence of vagus nerve preservation,esophageal regurgitation on endoscopic findings,in addition to whether or not there is a physiological route for food passage through the duodenum.Furthermore,proper functional evaluation cannot be performed without considering the form and amount of energy in the nutritional supplement to be loaded,and the posture at the time of investigation.The results of functional evaluation vary according to the method selected from many available options,but we believe that use of the most physiologically accurate,appropriate and selectable option will enable us to arrive at the best resection/reconstruction technique.We have reported that it is important to consider the preservation of three elements when performing gastrectomy:1)reduction of the extent of gastrectomy,2)preservation of the pylorus,and 3)preservation of the vagus nerve;among which preservation of the remnant stomach is the most important.Furthermore,the selection of a reconstruction method that maintains secretion of hormones beneficial to gastric motility preserves the energy balance inherent in the human body,and also provides better quality of life.

Functional evaluation using several evoked spinal cord potentials in elderly patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy

BACKGROUND ： The recordings of evoked spinal cord potentials following epidural spinal cord stimulation are thought to be generated by volleys traversing the dorsal column pathway, and it may not directly reflect conduction defects in corticospinat tracts of cervical spinal cord. To our knowledge there has been few report using several evoked spinal cord potentials in function evaluation of the cervical spinal cord in eldedy patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy （CSM）. OBJECTIVE： To investigate the function states of the cervical spinal cord in elderly patients with CSM and explore its pathophysictogic mechanism. DESIGN： Case observation SETTING ： Department of Orthopedics for the aged, Shenzhen Pingle Hospital of Orthopedics. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine. PARTICIPANTS ： A total of 23 eldedy patients with CSM who received treatment in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine of Japan from January 2003 to February 2004 were enrolled in this study. Inclusive criteria： ① Multiple intervertebral levels of cervical spinal cord compression confirmed by MRI, e.g. 3 or more than 3 levels of compressin. ② Age ≥ 70 years old. ③ Numbness and sensory disturbance in the upper limbs and showed hyperreflexia in the lower limbs. Exclusive criteria： Patients with abnormal motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities in both upper and lower limbs were excluded. METHODS： Evoked spinal cord potentials （ESCPs） following transcranial electric stimulation （TCE-ESCPs）, epidural spinal cord stimulation （SpinaI-ESCPs） and median nerve stimulation （MN-ESCPs） were recorded in 23 patients from posterior epidural space intreoperatively. The abnormalities of TCE-ESCPs were defined as attenuation of amplitude of the D wave. The most cranial intervertebral level showing abnormal TCE-ESCPs with a marked reduction in size of the negative peak （reduction of over 50%） was considered as the upper level of the spinal cord lesion with respect to the corticospinal tract in white matter. The abnormalities of SpinaI-ESCPs were defined as marked reduction in the size of negative peak （reduction of over 50%）. The most caudal intervertebral level showing abnormal SpinaI-ESCPs was considered as the lower level of the spinal cord lesion with respect to the dorsal column pathway in white matter. The abnormalities of MN-ESCPs were defined as attenuation of the N13 amplitude,which was considered as the lesion level of the spinal cord with respect to the dorsal horn in gray matter. Radiological investigation： Lateral view of plain X-ray films was obtained in flexion and extension of the cervical spine. Instability of the cervical intervertebral level was determined as horizontal displacement of the vertebral body of over 3 mm. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES ： The results of examination of TCE-ESCPs, SpinaI-ESCPs and MN-ESCPs in el- dedy patients with CSM. RESULTS： The 23 eldedy patients with CSM were participated in the result analysis. ①TCE-ESCPs： The impairment of the corticospinal tract in white matter at single intervertebral level was revealed in 18 of 23 patients by recordings of TCE-ESCPs （sensitivity 78%）. In the 18 patients, the lesion level was shown at the up- per cervical segment in 14 patients （C3-4n=10 and C4-5n=4）, and at the lower cervical segment in 4 patients （C5-6n=4）. ②Spinal-ESCPs： The impairment of the dorsal column pathway of white matter at single intervertebral level was revealed in 17 of 23 patients, by recordings of Spinal-ESCPs （sensitivity 74%）. In the 17 patients, the lesion level was presented at the upper cervical segment in 14 patients （C3-4n=10 and C4-5n=4）, and at the lower cervical segment in 3 patients （C5-6 n=3）. ③MN-ESCPs： All patients revealed abnormal MN-ESCPs at one or more intervertebral levels （sensitivity 100%）. The impairment at single intervertebral level was demonstrated in 17 patients, and the impairment at multiple intervertebral levels was shown in 4 patients （3 patients at the C3-4, C4-4, and C5-4~6, and one patient at the C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7）. ④Radiological findings： The Instability of the intervertebral level at the C3-4 or C4-5 motion segment was seen in 15 patients, with a total of 20 levels, and where 10 were at the C3-4 intervertebral level and 5 were at the C3-4, C4-5 intervertebral level. CONCLUSION ： The results suggest that in most elderly patients with CSM who have multiple intervertebral level compressions of the cervical spinal cord on MRI, white matter is impaired at the single cervical intervertebral level, and not only the dorsal column pathway, but also the corticospinal tract can be affected. Combined the findings of radiography, the excessive motion and instability of the C3-4 or C4-5 intervertebral level plays an important role in inducing the long tract lesion in elderly patients with CSM.

MAIN FUNCTIONS AND EVALUATION OF CUTI'S COMPLEX——Simulated Saturation Diving Chamber

The 300 msw Simulated Saturation Diving Chamber Complex was designed and built by ourselves. It was completed at the end of 1985. A 300 msw trimixed saturation diving experiment was successfully conducted in the complex by Chinese Underwater Technology Institute(CUTI) from May 22 to June 12 of 1987. During the experiment, 4 divers habitated in the complex for 20 days, and they performed 16 person-time excursion dives and 8 other tests. The result of the experiment indicates that the complex is well designed, suitably configurated, wholly integrated and steadily run, as well as of low leakage. The main functions of the complex have approached to those of the same kind in the world. The complex can be used as a basic facility for serving the nation's saturation diving technology, underwater operation, personnel training, etc.

Evaluation of the Effects of Cypermethrin on Female Reproductive Function by Using Rabbit Model and of the Protective Role of Chinese Propolis

The prophylactic effects of Chinese propolis against cypermethrin toxicity were evaluated by performing ovary and uterus histopathology, as well as by characterizing ovarian function, embryos, and litters. Cypermethrin induced atypia in the ovary and uterus, and decreased the ovulation sites and the number of embryos. Cypermethrin-induced oxidative stress during pregnancy, decreased the parturition rate as well as the number and weight of offspring and increased the incidence of morphological malformations in the offspring. Administration of propolis to cypermethrin-treated animals mitigated cypermethrin-induced reproductive toxicity.

SOME EXISTENCE THEOREMS OF COMMON AND COINCIDENCE SOLUTIONS FOR A CLASS OF SYSTEMS OF FUNCTIONAL EQUATIONS ARISING IN DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING

Some existence theorems of common and coincidence solutions for a class of more general systems of functional equations arising in dynamic programming are shown. The results presented in this paper not only contain the corresponding results of previous studies as special cases, but also give an existence theorem of solutions for a class of functional equations suggested by Wang recently.

Evaluating rehabilitation interventionsin Parkinson's disease with functional MRI:a promising neuroprotective strategy

Parkinson＇s disease （PD） is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 10 million people world- wide （Planetta et al., 2014; Zigmond and Smeyne, 2014）. The principal clinical features of PD are bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor at rest and postural instability （Planetta et al., 2014）. It is known that both PD itself and the use of anti-parkinson drugs are associated with several non-motor symptoms such as cognitive impairment, neuropsychiatric disturbances and sleep, autonomic, and sensory disorders （Park and Stacy, 2009; Foster et al., 2014）. The histopathological hallmark of PD is the reduction of dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta, causing dopamine deficiency in spe- cific nuclei of the basal ganglia such as the dorsal striatum （Fearnley and Lees, 1991; Planetta et al., 2014）. The disrup- tion of the dopaminergic system has long been regarded as the major cause of PD; however, it has been shown that a widespread involvement of several non-dopaminergic path- ways also contribute to the clinical manifestations of PD （Park et al., 2014）.

Data processing method for aerial testing of rotating accelerometer gravity gradiometer

A novel method for noise removal from the rotating accelerometer gravity gradiometer(MAGG)is presented.It introduces a head-to-tail data expansion technique based on the zero-phase filtering principle.A scheme for determining band-pass filter parameters based on signal-to-noise ratio gain,smoothness index,and cross-correlation coefficient is designed using the Chebyshev optimal consistent approximation theory.Additionally,a wavelet denoising evaluation function is constructed,with the dmey wavelet basis function identified as most effective for processing gravity gradient data.The results of hard-in-the-loop simulation and prototype experiments show that the proposed processing method has shown a 14%improvement in the measurement variance of gravity gradient signals,and the measurement accuracy has reached within 4E,compared to other commonly used methods,which verifies that the proposed method effectively removes noise from the gradient signals,improved gravity gradiometry accuracy,and has certain technical insights for high-precision airborne gravity gradiometry.

Research on the Coupled and Coordinated Development of Tourism and Transport in Chongqing Municipality

By examining the current status of tourism and transport research both domestically and internationally,and analyzing the development trends of Chongqing’s tourism and transport industry,this study evaluates the weight indices and performs a coupling and coordination analysis of various indicators of Chongqing’s tourism and transport industry from 2011 to 2019.The following conclusions are drawn:(1)The value of the comprehensive evaluation function for tourism is higher than that of the transport industry,indicating that Chongqing’s tourism industry is in a period of vigorous development;(2)The degree of coupling coordination development between Chongqing’s tourism and transportation industries from 2011 to 2019 is rising.As the coupling coordination stage continues to improve,the level of coupling coordination also improves,with the overall trend showing a progression from mild dysfunction to primary coordination.Based on these conclusions,corresponding countermeasures are proposed to promote the coupling coordination between tourism and transport in Chongqing,and suggestions are made for the overall improvement of the transport industry and the sustainable development of the tourism industry.

Antiplane response of isosceles triangular hill to incident SH waves

In this paper, antiplane response of an isosceles triangular hill to incident SH waves is studied based on the method of complex function and by using moving coordinate system. The standing wave function, which can satisfy the governing equation and boundary condition, is provided. Furthermore, numerical examples are presented; the influences of wave number and angle of the incident waves and the angle of the hill’s peak on ground motion are discussed.

Evaluation and structural analysis of the functions of the Tibetan Plateau National Park Cluster

National parks are useful entities for looking at coordinated efforts to improve the Tibetan Plateau’s function as an ecological safety barrier and the region’s green development.Research on the characteristics of the function structures of the Tibetan Plateau’s national parks is vital to promoting their systematic and coordinated development.This paper combines the pressure-state-response model,the rank-size rule and a coupling and coordination model to identify and evaluate the functions of national parks on the Tibetan Plateau and to analyze the categories,hierarchy and structures behind those functions.The results indicate the following:(1)The Tibetan Plateau National Park Cluster needs to maintain internal and external relations.Internally it needs to rationally allocate resources between ecological protection,recreation and community development,and externally it needs to promote its role as an ecological security barrier and promote regional green development by rationally ranking and organizing the individual national parks,so as to handle their co-evolution of functions at multiple scales.(2)Ecological protection,recreation and community development are the most prominent functions of the Tibetan Plateau National Park Cluster,but there is scope to develop their scientific research and education functions.The Zipf index shows that their multi-functional level conforms with the rank-size rule,indicating balanced development.Individual national parks need to strengthen their optimal functions according to their characteristic localization.(3)The degree of coupling between the functions of the Tibetan Plateau National Park Cluster is 0.7809,and the degree of coordination is 0.6227,which indicates a very strong coupling and moderate coordination.The coupling strength and degree of coordination between the multiple functions vary greatly among the individual national parks,which reflects their different function structures.There are four function structure types:fully coordinated,optimally developed,moderately developed and moderately underdeveloped.This study contributes to research on evaluating the functions of national park clusters and analyzing their structures,and it serves as a reference on optimizing and sustainably developing the Tibetan Plateau National Park Cluster.

The Joint Control of Variable Speed and On-Ramp Metering for Urban Expressway

The traffic performance of urban expressway is subject to non-recurring and recurring events, which may cause heavy congestion and vehicles long queuing on ramps. The low performance may bring more traffic delay to the whole network of urban road. This paper presents a new method, the joint control of variable speed control and on-ramp metering, which attempts to improve the level of traffic operations on urban expressway. By analyzing traffic flow on urban expressway, an optimum control strategy of variable speed and on-ramp metering is established in the paper.

Indocyanine green plasma clearance rate and 99mTc-galactosyl human serum albumin single-photon emission computed tomography evaluated preoperative remnant liver

BACKGROUND Preoperative evaluation of future remnant liver reserves is important for safe hepatectomy.If the remnant is small,preoperative portal vein embolization(PVE)is useful.Liver volume analysis has been the primary method of preoperative evaluation,although functional examination may be more accurate.We have used the functional evaluation liver using the indocyanine green plasma clearance rate(KICG)and 99mTc-galactosyl human serum albumin single-photon emission computed tomography(99mTc-GSA SPECT)for safe hepatectomy.AIM To analyze the safety of our institution’s system for evaluating the remnant liver reserve.METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the records of 23 patients who underwent preoperative PVE.Two types of remnant liver KICG were defined as follows:Anatomical volume remnant KICG(a-rem-KICG),determined as the remnant liver anatomical volume rate×KICG;and functional volume remnant KICG(frem-KICG),determined as the remnant liver functional volume rate based on 99mTc-GSA SPECT×KICG.If either of the remnant liver KICGs were>0.05,a hepatectomy was performed.Perioperative factors were analyzed.We defined the marginal group as patients with a-rem-KICG of<0.05 and a f-rem-KICG of>0.05 and compared the postoperative outcomes between the marginal and not marginal(both a-rem-KICG and f-rem-KICG>0.05)groups.RESULTS All 23 patients underwent planned hepatectomies.Right hepatectomy,right trisectionectomy and left trisectionectomy were in 16,6 and 1 cases,respectively.The mean of blood loss and operative time were 576 mL and 474 min,respectively.The increased amount of frem-KICG was significantly larger than that of a-rem-KICG after PVE(0.034 vs 0.012,P=0.0273).The not marginal and marginal groups had 17(73.9%)and 6(26.1%)patients,respectively.The complications of Clavian-Dindo classification grade II or higher and post-hepatectomy liver failure were observed in six(26.1%)and one(grade A,4.3%)patient,respectively.The 90-d mortality was zero.The marginal group had no significant difference in postoperative outcomes(prothrombin time/international normalised ratio,total bilirubin,complication,post-hepatectomy liver failure,hospital stay,90-d,and mortality)compared with the not-marginal group.CONCLUSION Functional evaluation of the remnant liver enabled safe hepatectomy and may extend the indication for hepatectomy after PVE treatment.

Construction and Management of Public Welfare Forest in Hainan Province

Through investigating ecological service functions of public welfare forest in Hainan Province, this paper explored type constitution and problems of its ecological service functional value, optimization of its scale and layout, promoted effective protection and benign development, and proposed strategies for the construction and management of public welfare forest in Hainan Province.