SIMPLIFIED SCALING TRANSFORMATION FOR THE NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF MEMS DEVICES WITH THIN FILM STRUCTURES

Thin film is a widely used structure in the present microelectromechanical systems （MEMS） and plays a vital role in many functional devices. However, the great size difference between the film＇s thickness and its planar dimensions makes it difficult to study the thin film performance numerically. In this work, a scaling transformation was presented to make the different dimensional sizes equivalent, and thereby, to improve the grid quality considerably. Two numerical experiments were studied to validate the present scaling transformation method. The numerical results indicated that the largest grid size difference can be decreased to one to two orders of magnitude by using the present scaling transformation, and the memory required by the numerical simulation, i.e., the total grid number, could be reduced by about two to three orders of magnitude, while the numerical accuracies with and without this scaling transformation were nearly the same.

Efficacy and safety of thermobalancing therapy with Dr Allen’s Device for chronic low back pain:A randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND Lumbar disc herniation and non-specific low back pain are common conditions that seriously affect patients’health-related quality of life(HRQoL).Although empirical evidence has demonstrated that novel Thermobalancing therapy and Dr Allen’s Device can relieve chronic low back pain,there have been no randomised controlled trials for these indications.AIM To evaluate the efficacy of Dr Allen’s Device in lumbar disc herniation(LDH)and non-specific low back pain(NSLBP).METHODS A randomised clinical trial was conducted investigating 55 patients with chronic low back pain due to LDH(n=28)or NSLBP(n=27),out of which 15 were randomly assigned to the control group and 40 were assigned to the treatment group.The intervention was treatment with Dr Allen’s Device for 3 mo.Changes in HRQoL were assessed using the Numerical Pain Rating Scale and the Japanese Orthopedic Association Back Pain Questionnaire.RESULTS Thermobalancing therapy with Dr Allen’s Device showed a significant reduction in pain in the treatment group(P<0.001),with no recorded adverse effects.Both pain assessment scales showed a significant improvement in patients’perception of pain indicating improvement in HRQoL.CONCLUSION The out-of-hospital use of Thermobalancing therapy with Dr Allen’s Device for Low Back Treatment relieves chronic low back pain significantly and without adverse effects,improves the level of activity and HRQoL among patients with LDH and NSLBP.This study demonstrates the importance of this safe first-line therapy that can be used for effective at-home management of chronic low back pain.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Nature of Analgesia in the Medical-Surgical Emergency Department of CHU-Donka

Introduction: Pain assessment is an essential step towards pain relief. In our context, however, it is insufficient in emergency departments. The aim was to assess the nature and effectiveness of the analgesia used in the emergency department of the CHU-Donka. Method: This was a single-centre prospective observational study conducted over one month (November 2020) in the medical-surgical emergency department of CHU-Donka. All patients aged 18 or over admitted to the emergency department with moderate to severe acute pain were included. Results: We enrolled 880 patients, 615 of whom (69.88%) were in pain. Males predominated (65.2%), with a sex ratio of 1.87. The average age was 44.78 ± 16.41 years, with extremes ranging from 18 to 85 years. The most represented age group was 18 - 34 years, with 66.18%. Initial assessment of pain by nursing staff in 3 cases. Initial assessment of pain by the investigator was 100%, 74% moderate and 26% severe. No reassessment of pain by nursing staff. Reassessment by the interviewer was 100% and found 5% no pain, 61% mild pain, 24% moderate pain and 10% severe pain. With an average numerical scale of 3.77 ± 2.61 and extremes from 0 to 10. Average length of stay was 2.85 ± 1.48 hours, with extremes ranging from 45 minutes to 8 hours. Analgesia was administered with paracetamol alone (43.58%), combined with tramadol or nefopam. No patient received morphine. Conclusion: This study revealed a lack of pain assessment in our department.

Shear strength criteria for rock,rock joints,rockfill and rock masses:Problems and some solutions

Although many intact rock types can be very strong,a critical confining pressure can eventually be reached in triaxial testing,such that the Mohr shear strength envelope becomes horizontal.This critical state has recently been better defined,and correct curvature or correct deviation from linear Mohr-Coulomb（MC） has finally been found.Standard shear testing procedures for rock joints,using multiple testing of the same sample,in case of insufficient samples,can be shown to exaggerate apparent cohesion.Even rough joints do not have any cohesion,but instead have very high friction angles at low stress,due to strong dilation.Rock masses,implying problems of large-scale interaction with engineering structures,may have both cohesive and frictional strength components.However,it is not correct to add these,following linear M-C or nonlinear Hoek-Brown（H-B） standard routines.Cohesion is broken at small strain,while friction is mobilized at larger strain and remains to the end of the shear deformation.The criterion ＇c then σn tan φ＇ should replace ＇c plus σn tan φ＇ for improved fit to reality.Transformation of principal stresses to a shear plane seems to ignore mobilized dilation,and caused great experimental difficulties until understood.There seems to be plenty of room for continued research,so that errors of judgement of the last 50 years can be corrected.

A NUMERICAL STUDY OF SHORT-RANGE CLIMATIC OSCILLATION WITH VARIOUS TIME SCALES FORCED BY EL NINO DURING THE NORTHERN SUMMER

The normal mode method is adopted to decompose the differences between simulations with SST(sea surface temperature)anomahes over centra-eastern Pacific and normal SST by use of a nine-layer global spec- tral model in order to investigate short-range climatic oscillation with various time scales forced by El Nino during the northern summer.Investigation shows that El Nino may have the following influence on atmosphere on various space-time scales.Extra-long wave components of Rossby mode forced by convective anomaly over equatorial western Pacific resulting from El Nino produce climatic oscillation on monthly(sea- sonal)time scale in middle-high latitudes of Southern and Northern Hemispheres;extra-long wave components of Kelvin mode forced by SST anomalies propagate along the equator,resulting in 30—60 day oscillation of tropical and subtropical atmosphere;and its long waves move eastward with westerly,resulting in quasi-biweek oscillation.

Traveling wavefronts for a reaction-diffusion-chemotaxis model with volume-filling effect

In this paper, we study the propagation of the pattern for a reaction-diffusionchemotaxis model. By using a weakly nonlinear analysis with multiple temporal and spatial scales, we establish the amplitude equations for the patterns, which show that a local perturbation at the constant steady state is spread over the whole domain in the form of a traveling wavefront. The simulations demonstrate that the amplitude equations capture the evolution of the exact patterns obtained by numerically solving the considered system.

Major Clinical Features and Epidemic Characteristics of Erosive Vulvar Lichen Planus:A Retrospective Analysis

Objective:Vulvar lichen planus(VLP),especially erosive VLP(EVLP),seriously affects women’s physiological function and quality of life.A retrospective analysis of erosive vulvar lichen planus(EVLP)was performed to raise awareness on this chronic,deforming,and painful vulvar disease.Methods:This observational retrospective study involved 40 patients with EVLP among 1,368 patients with vulvar disease from 2017 to 2020.The patients’vulvar clinical features and extravulvar mucosal involvement were investigated.The patients’pain and quality of life were evaluated with the numeric rating scale and the Dermatology Life Quality Index(DLQI),respectively.Clinical characteristics were reported using frequencies and proportions for categorical variables.Continuous variables are expressed as mean±standard deviation.The association between NRS score for pain and DLQI score was analyzed by Pearson’s correlation test.Results:EVLP accounted for 2.9%(40/1,368)of all cases of vulvar disease,and the median age at onset was 42 years.Erosion mostly occurred on the labia minora and introitus.Half(20/40)of the patients had extravulvar mucosal involvement.Seventeen(42.5%)patients had oral lichen planus,and seven(17.5%)patients were diagnosed with vulvovaginal-gingival syndrome.The numeric rating scale score showed that 47.5%(19/40)of patients experienced mild pain,whereas 12.5%(5/40)described the pain as severe.Thirty-one patients(77.5%,31/40)had dyspareunia,and nine patients had aggravated pain after sexual intercourse.The mean DLQI score was 9.1±6.0,with 37.5%(15/40)of patients indicating that EVLP had severely affected their lives.The numeric rating scale score for pain was significantly correlated with the DLQI score(P=0.007).Conclusion:EVLP can affect the quality of women’s lives and cause severe deformations and painful architectural changes.The description of the characteristics of EVLP in this report will benefit the diagnosis and early treatment of this disease.

埃德蒙顿症状评估量表在针灸治疗癌痛患者中的应用:基于肿瘤科住院患者的回顾性分析和一项前瞻性预试验

Background:As pain is the most prominent clinical symptom for cancer patients and closely related to other symptoms,it is necessary to have a comprehensive assessment on promising intervention to improve pain management.Methods:A retrospective study of 489 inpatient cancer patients(1081 visits)was conducted by querying the electronic medical record database to test the reliability and validity of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System.Data from a pilot prospective randomized controlled study on acupuncture for cancer pain was analyzed to validate the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System(ESAS)as the primary outcome in the integrative oncology research.Results:In the retrospective analysis,scores of the numerical rating scale(NRS)and the ESAS total score were significantly correlated(r=0.15,P=0.02),and the correlation coefficient between NRS and pain sub-scale in ESAS was 0.47(P<0.001).The pilot study showed the proportions of participants experiencing more than a 2-point reduction in NRS at the end of the treatment were 80%(n=12/15)in the acupuncture group and 50%(n=7/14)in the control group,without a significant difference between groups(P=0.13).For the total scores of ESAS,more responders were found in the acupuncture group(n=13/15)compared to that in the control group(n=7/14),with no significant difference between groups(P=0.05).Conclusions:ESAS is suitable for the comprehensive assessment in patients with cancer pain and could be an appropriate outcome measurement in acupuncture research for cancer pain.Trial registration:Registered on 09/07/2018 with ChiCTR1800017023(https://www.chictr/org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=28879&htm=4)