Health-related quality of life evaluated by tumor node metastasis staging system in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To investigate and evaluate the change in healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL) by tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging system in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: A total of 140 patients diagnosed with HCC between June 2008 and April 2009 in our department were enrolled to this study. One hundred and thirty-five (96.5%) patients had liver cirrhosis secondary to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, 73 (54.07%) of them being HBV DNA positive; the other etiologies of liver cirrhosis were alcoholic liver disease (1.4%), hepatitis C (1.4%) or cryptogenic (0.7%). All subjects were fully aware of their diagnosis and provided informed consent. HRQoL was assessed before treatment using the functional assessment of cancer therapy-hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate demographics and disease-specific characteristics of the patients. One-way analysis of variance and independent samples t tests were used to compare the overall FACT-Hep scores and clinically distinct TNM stages. Scores for all FACT-Hep items were analyzed by frequency analyses. The mean scores obtained from the FACT-Hep in different Child-Pugh classes were also evaluated. RESULTS: The mean FACT-Hep scores were reduced significantly from TNM StageⅠto Stage Ⅱ, Stage ⅢA, Stage ⅢB group (687 ± 39.69 vs 547 ± 42.57 vs 387 ± 51.24 vs 177 ± 71.44, P = 0.001). Regarding the physical and emotional well-being subscales, scores decreased gradually from Stage Ⅰ to Stage ⅢB (P = 0.002 vs Stage Ⅰ; P = 0.032 vs Stage Ⅱ; P = 0.033 vs Stage ⅢA). Mean FACT-Hep scores varied by Child-Pugh class, especially in the subscales of physical well-being, functional well-being and the hepatobiliary cancer (P = 0.001 vs Stage I; P = 0.036 vs Stage Ⅱ; P = 0.032 vs Stage ⅢA). For the social and family well-being subscale, only Stage ⅢB scores were significantly lower as compared with Stage Ⅰ scores (P = 0.035). For the subscales of functional well-being and hepatobiliary cancer, there were significant differences for Stages ⅡΙ, ⅢA and ⅢB (P = 0.002vs StageⅠ). CONCLUSION: HRQoL of patients with HCC worsens gradually with progression of TNM stages. The most impaired subscales of HRQoL, as measured by FACT-Hep, were physical and emotional well-being.

The comparative studies of the influences of Urapidil and Nicardipine on sino-atrial node function,atrio-ventricular node function and hemodynamics

Objective：To investigate the influences of urapidil and nicardipine on rabbit sinus function, atrio-ventricular node function and hemodynamics. Methods：Thirty-two Angora＇ s rabbits were selected and randomly divided into four groups. U1 group：urapidil 0.25 mg/kg; U2 group：urapidil 0.5 mg/kg; N1 group：nicardipine 10 μg/kg; N2 group： nicardipine 20 μg/kg. All these medicine were administrated within 30 seconds. Measurements were taken before and after the administration of urapidil or nicardipine for the following data： mean blood pressure（MAP）, heart rate（HR）, sino-atrial conduction time（SACT）, maximal sinoatrial recovery time（SNRTmax） corrected sinus node recovery time（CSNRT）, index of sinus node recovery time（SNRTI）, Wenckebach A-V conduction frequency （WB）, and P-R interval. Results：Significant MAP and HR changes were identified in all of the four groups before and after administration of both urapidil and nicardipine. No significant changes could be found in the rest of the parameters. Intergroup analysis showed that SACT and CSNRT of N1 and N2 groups were shorter than those of the U2 group（P 〈 0.01）; the MAP decreased（P 〈 0.01） and the HR increased drastically（P〈 0.01）. Conclusions：Neither urapidil（0.25 mg/kg, 0,5 mg/kg） nor nicardipine（10 μg/kg, 20 μg/kg） has any significant influence on rabbit sinus function or rabbit atrio-ventricular node function. Nicardipine could be a better choice than urapidil for parafunctional sinus node patients.

A FUNCTION NODE-BASED MULTIPLE PAIRWISE KEYS MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION ANALYSIS

In this letter, a Function node-based Multiple Pairwise Keys Management (MPKMF) protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is firstly designed, in which ordinary nodes and cluster head nodes are responsible for data collection and transmission, and function nodes are responsible for key management. There are more than one function nodes in the cluster consulting the key generation and other security decision-making. The function nodes are the second-class security center because of the characteristics of the distributed WSNs. Secondly, It is also described that the formation of function nodes and cluster heads under the control of the former, and five kinds of keys, i.e., individual key, pairwise keys, cluster key, management key, and group key. Finally, performance analysis and experiments show that, the protocol is superior in communication and energy consumption. The delay of establishing the cluster key meets the requirements, and a multiple pairwise key which adopts the coordinated security authentication scheme is provided.

Effect of Qiangxin Fumai Granule(强心复脉颗粒) on Electrophysiological Functions of the Sinoatrial Node during Ischemia-reperfusion of the Right Coronary Artery in Rabbits

Objective： To study the effect of the Chinese medicine Qiangxin Fumai Granule （强心复脉颗粒, QFG） on electrophysiological functions of the sinoatrial node during ischemia-reperfusion （IR） of the right coronary artery in rabbits. Methods： The right coronary artery IR model in rabbits was adopted. The modeled rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups： the model group, the atropine group, the highdose QFG group, and the low-dose QFG group, with 8 animals in each group. In addition, twelve rabbits were selected for the sham-operative group. The drugs were administered once via duodenal perfusion after modeling had been stabilized for 10 min. The changes in AA interval, the sinoatrial conduction time （SACT）, the sinus node recovery time （SNRT）, the corrected sinus node recovery time （CSNRT） and the index of sinus node recovery time （ISNRT） at different time points during ischemia and reperfusion were measured. Results： The AA interval was prolonged for more than 40 ms in the model group during ischemia. Compared with the model group, the four electrophysiological parameters abovementioned in the high-dose QFG group and the low-dose QFG group were decreased to different extents at each time point （P〈0.01 or P〈0.05）, and no statistically significant differences were found between the QFG groups and the atropine group （P〉0.05）. Conclusion： QFG is beneficial for accelerating the recovery of sinus node autorhythmicity and conduction function, so as to protect electrophysiological functions of the sinoatrial node. Accelerating the recovery of autorhythmicity and conduction function in the sinus node is considered its electrophysiological mechanism in the treatment of sinoatrial node injury induced by ischemia.

Terrain Rendering LOD Algorithm Based on Improved Restrictive Quadtree Segmentation and Variation Coefficient of Elevation

Aiming to deal with the difficult issues of terrain data model simplification and crack disposal,the paper proposed an improved level of detail(LOD)terrain rendering algorithm,in which a variation coefficient of elevation is introduced to express the undulation of topography.Then the coefficient is used to construct a node evaluation function in the terrain data model simplification step.Furthermore,an edge reduction strategy is combined with the improved restrictive quadtree segmentation to handle the crack problem.The experiment results demonstrated that the proposed method can reduce the amount of rendering triangles and enhance the rendering speed on the premise of ensuring the rendering effect compared with a traditional LOD algorithm.

A RECTANGULAR SHELL ELEMENT FORMULATION WITH A NEW MULTI-RESOLUTION ANALYSIS

A multi-resolution rectangular shell element with membrane-bending based on the Kirchhoff-Love theory is proposed. The multi-resolution analysis （MRA） framework is formulated out of a mutually nesting displacement subspace sequence, whose basis functions are constructed of scaling and shifting on the element domain of basic node shape functions. The basic node shape functions are constructed from shifting to other three quadrants around a specific node of a basic element in one quadrant and joining the corresponding node shape functions of four elements at the specific node. The MRA endows the proposed element with the resolution level （RL） to adjust the element node number, thus modulating structural analysis accuracy accordingly. The node shape functions of Kronecker delta property make the treatment of element boundary condition quite convenient and enable the stiffness matrix and the loading column vectors of the proposed element to be automatically acquired through quadraturing around nodes in RL adjusting. As a result, the traditional 4-node rectangular shell element is a mono-resolution one and also a special case of the proposed element. The accuracy of a structural analysis is actually determined by the RL, not by the mesh. The simplicity and clarity of node shape function formulation with the Kronecker delta property, and the rational MRA enable the proposed element method to be implemented more rationally, easily and efficiently than the conventional mono-resolution rectangular shell element method or other corresponding MRA methods.

A hexahedron element formulation with a new multi-resolution analysis

A multiresolution hexahedron element is presented with a new multiresolution analysis(MRA)framework.The MRA framework is formulated out of a mutually nesting displacement subspace sequence,whose basis functions are constructed of scaling and shifting on element domain of a basic node shape function.The basic node shape function is constructed from shifting to other seven quadrants around a specific node of a basic isoparametric element in one quadrant and joining the corresponding node shape functions of eight elements at the specific node.The MRA endows the proposed element with the resolution level(RL)to adjust structural analysis accuracy.As a result,the traditional 8-node hexahedron element is a monoresolution one and also a special case of the proposed element.The meshing for the monoresolution finite element model is based on the empiricism while the RL adjusting for the multiresolution is laid on the solid mathematical basis.The simplicity and clarity of shape function construction with the Kronecker delta property and the rational MRA enable the proposed element method to be more rational,easier and efficient in its implementation than the conventional mono-resolution solid element method or other MRA methods.The multiresolution hexahedron element method is more adapted to dealing with the accurate computation of structural problems.