Computed tomography is an indispensable X-ray imaging modality used to diagnose numerous pathologies, but it can also involve the delivery of high ionizing radiation doses harmful to the health of patients. This study...Computed tomography is an indispensable X-ray imaging modality used to diagnose numerous pathologies, but it can also involve the delivery of high ionizing radiation doses harmful to the health of patients. This study aims to survey the level of radiation doses delivered to child patients during head exams in CT imaging to set up the Dosimetric Reference Levels (DRLs), a routine dose optimization tool, based on data acquired at the University Hospital of Angré (UHA), the University Hospital of Treichville (UHT) and the Polyclinic Hospital Farah (Farah) for optimizing procedures in Ivorian hospitals. Prospectively performed on 334 CT images of 186 child patients, this study was carried out on CT systems such as Hitachi Scenaria, Sinovision Insitum, and Philips Incisive used respectively at UHA, UHT and Farah. Children’s scan data were classified into four age bands: vol or dose-length product as DLP) value, whatever the hospital, increases with respect to the age of child patients. Based on the 75th percentile of the whole dose distributions, the DRLs of the CTDIvol is 54.37 mGy whatever the age groups and those of the DLP with respect to age bands are 1224.55 mGy∙cm, 1414.06 mGy∙cm, 1632.24 mGy.cm and 1544.57 mGy∙cm, respectively. The averaged values of CTDIvol and DLP smaller than the corresponding DRLs values suggest that practices in our three facilities are optimized. However, comparing our results with those from different international studies, we see that the CTDIvol and DLP values obtained in the present work are higher. These results suggest additional surveys to ensure our DRLs values and efforts from radiologists, imaging technicians and medical physicists to strengthen clinical procedures for the radiation protection of children undergoing CT scans in Côte d’Ivoire.展开更多
The purpose of this research was to evaluate radiological safety in pediatric radiology in hospitals in the Kongo Central province of the DRC. To this end, we surveyed a convenience sample of 50 health professionals, ...The purpose of this research was to evaluate radiological safety in pediatric radiology in hospitals in the Kongo Central province of the DRC. To this end, we surveyed a convenience sample of 50 health professionals, including 10 radiologists working in the hospitals covered by the survey, to assess the practice of pediatric radiology and the degree of compliance with radiation protection principles for the safety of children and the environment. We collected radiophysical parameters to calculate entrance doses in pediatric radiology in radiology departments to determine the dosimetric level by comparison with the diagnostic reference levels of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). All in all, we found that in Kongo Central in the DRC, many health personnel surveyed reported that more than 30% of requested radiological examinations are not justified. Also, after comparing the entrance doses produced in the surveyed departments with those of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), a statistically significant difference was found in pediatric radiology between the average doses in five out of six surveyed departments and those of the ICRP. Therefore, almost all of the surveyed departments were found to be highly irradiating in children, while excessive X-ray irradiation in children can have significant effects due to their increased sensitivity to radiation. Among the risks are: increased cancer risks, damage to developing cells, potential genetic effects, and neurological effects. This is why support for implementing radiation protection principles is a necessity to promote the safety of patients and the environment against the harmful effects of X-rays in conventional radiology.展开更多
Flood extremes due to sea level rise and extreme precipitation are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. However, despite the need for accurate climate change risk assessment, significant misconceptions in ...Flood extremes due to sea level rise and extreme precipitation are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. However, despite the need for accurate climate change risk assessment, significant misconceptions in key risk terms, including vulnerability and impact, could lead to risk miscalculations. These misconceptions around risk concepts derive from the lack of risk terms’ standardization and the gaps in an integrated and widely accepted methodology for assessing climate change risks. Risk assessment frameworks should follow the specialties of each element/sector it is applied on and the special features of each climate hazard. Also, risk assessment matrix should not follow specific design settings but it should better follow the needs of each study, so as to optimize the understanding of each risk. Through an extensive literature review, this is the first paper that identifies gaps, inconsistencies and misuses of climate risk concepts and suggests specific systemization and standardization of risk terms definitions. Finally, it develops a climate change risk assessment framework and matrix, focusing on sea level rise and extreme precipitation, which could be widely implemented in risk assessment of all elements at sea level rise and extreme precipitation risk.展开更多
Objective:The objective of this study was to compare the effect of nurse and beloved family member’s recording voice on consciousness and physical parameters in patients with coma state.Materials and Methods:A random...Objective:The objective of this study was to compare the effect of nurse and beloved family member’s recording voice on consciousness and physical parameters in patients with coma state.Materials and Methods:A randomized control trial parallel group design was conducted among 45 comatose patients divided into two intervention groups,i.e.nurse voice stimulus group,receiving nurses voice with standard care,family members voice stimulus group receiving their beloved family member voice with standard care and one control group receiving only standard care in medicine intensive care unit.The intervention was provided three times a day,each lasting 5 min for 7 days in addition to standard care.Repeated measure analysis of variance and independent t-test were used to compare within and between groups,respectively.Results:The study found significant differences in Glasgow coma scale(GCS)scores within both the nurse(F=2.78,P=0.042)and family member(F=10.27,P=0.0001)voice stimulus groups over 7 days.Comparing GCS scores between intervention groups showed significant variations before(P=0.028),during(P=0.047),and after(P=0.036)the intervention on day 7.Comparing GCS scores between the family members’voice stimulus group and the control group,significant changes were observed on days 5 and 7(P=0.043,0.030,0.030,and 0.014,0.012,0.012)before,during,and after the intervention.Conclusions:The use of beloved family members’voices proved more effective in elevating the patients’level of consciousness compared to both the nurse voice stimulus group and the control group.展开更多
BACKGROUND Chronic liver disease is a growing global health problem,leading to hepatic decompensation characterized by an array of clinical and biochemical complic-ations.Several scoring systems have been introduced i...BACKGROUND Chronic liver disease is a growing global health problem,leading to hepatic decompensation characterized by an array of clinical and biochemical complic-ations.Several scoring systems have been introduced in assessing the severity of hepatic decompensation with the most frequent ones are Child-Pugh score,model of end-stage liver disease(MELD)score,and MELD-Na score.Anemia is frequently observed in cirrhotic patients and is linked to worsened clinical outcomes.Although studies have explored anemia in liver disease,few have investigated the correlation of hemoglobin level with the severity of hepatic decompensation.AIM To determine the relationship between hemoglobin levels and the severity of decompensated liver disease and comparing the strength of this correlation using the Child-Pugh,MELD,and MELD-Na scores.METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital with 652 decompensated liver disease patients enrolled in the study.Data was collected on demographics,clinical history,and laboratory findings,including hemoglobin levels,bilirubin,albumin,prothrombin time(international normalized ratio),sodium,and creatinine.The Child-Pugh,MELD,and MELD-Na scores were calculated.Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26,and correlations between hemoglobin levels and severity scores were assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient.RESULTS The study included 405 males(62.1%)and 247 females(37.9%)with an average age of 58.8 years.Significant inverse correlations were found between hemoglobin levels and Child-Pugh,MELD,and MELD-Na scores(P<0.01),with the MELD scoring system being the strongest correlator among all.One-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences in hemoglobin levels across the severity groups of each scoring system(P=0.001).Tukey's post hoc analysis confirmed significant internal differences among each severity group.CONCLUSION Understanding the correlation between hemoglobin and liver disease severity can improve patient management by offering insights into prognosis and guiding treatment decisions.展开更多
Aspect-oriented sentiment analysis is a meticulous sentiment analysis task that aims to analyse the sentiment polarity of specific aspects. Most of the current research builds graph convolutional networks based on dep...Aspect-oriented sentiment analysis is a meticulous sentiment analysis task that aims to analyse the sentiment polarity of specific aspects. Most of the current research builds graph convolutional networks based on dependent syntactic trees, which improves the classification performance of the models to some extent. However, the technical limitations of dependent syntactic trees can introduce considerable noise into the model. Meanwhile, it is difficult for a single graph convolutional network to aggregate both semantic and syntactic structural information of nodes, which affects the final sentence classification. To cope with the above problems, this paper proposes a bi-channel graph convolutional network model. The model introduces a phrase structure tree and transforms it into a hierarchical phrase matrix. The adjacency matrix of the dependent syntactic tree and the hierarchical phrase matrix are combined as the initial matrix of the graph convolutional network to enhance the syntactic information. The semantic information feature representations of the sentences are obtained by the graph convolutional network with a multi-head attention mechanism and fused to achieve complementary learning of dual-channel features. Experimental results show that the model performs well and improves the accuracy of sentiment classification on three public benchmark datasets, namely Rest14, Lap14 and Twitter.展开更多
BACKGROUND Within the normal range,elevated alanine aminotransferase(ALT)levels are associated with an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease(MAFLD).AIM To investigate the associations ...BACKGROUND Within the normal range,elevated alanine aminotransferase(ALT)levels are associated with an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease(MAFLD).AIM To investigate the associations between repeated high-normal ALT measurements and the risk of new-onset MAFLD prospectively.METHODS A cohort of 3553 participants followed for four consecutive health examinations over 4 years was selected.The incidence rate,cumulative times,and equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of excess high-normal ALT levels(ehALT)were measured.Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyse the association between the cumulative effects of ehALT and the risk of new-onset MAFLD.RESULTS A total of 83.13%of participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels.The incidence rate of MAFLD showed a linear increasing trend in the cumulative ehALT group.Compared with those in the low-normal ALT group,the multivariate adjusted hazard ratios of the equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of ehALT were 1.651[95%confidence interval(CI):1.199-2.273]and 1.535(95%CI:1.119-2.106)in the third quartile and 1.616(95%CI:1.162-2.246)and 1.580(95%CI:1.155-2.162)in the fourth quartile,respectively.CONCLUSION Most participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels.Long-term high-normal ALT levels were associated with a cumulative increased risk of new-onset MAFLD.展开更多
The mechanical properties of residual coal pillars under the influence of upward mining disturbances significantly affect the safety of residual mining activities on working faces.This study conducted low-frequency di...The mechanical properties of residual coal pillars under the influence of upward mining disturbances significantly affect the safety of residual mining activities on working faces.This study conducted low-frequency disturbance dynamic uniaxial compression tests on coal specimens using a self-developed dynamic-static load coupling electro-hydraulic servo system,and studied the strength evolutions,surface deformations,acoustic emission(AE)characteristic parameters,and the failure modes of coal specimens with different static preloading levels were studied.The disturbance damage is positively correlated with the coal specimen static preload level.Specifically,the cumulative AE count rates of the initial accelerated damage stage for the coal specimens with static preloading level of 60%and 70%of the uniaxial compressive strength(UCS)were 2.66 and 3.19 times that of the 50%UCS specimens,respectively.Macroscopically,this behaviour manifested as a decrease in the compressive strength,and the mean strengths of the disturbance-damaged coal specimens with 60%and 70%of UCS static preloading decreased by 8.53%and 9.32%,respectively,compared to those of the specimens under pure static loading.The crack sources,such as the primary fissures,strongly control the dynamic response of the coal specimen.The difference between the dynamic responses of the coal specimens and that of dense rocks is significant.展开更多
BACKGROUND The incidence of chronic wounds is rising due to an aging population and lifestyle changes in our country.In addition,as the disease spectrum evolves,chronic wounds have become common clinical issues that s...BACKGROUND The incidence of chronic wounds is rising due to an aging population and lifestyle changes in our country.In addition,as the disease spectrum evolves,chronic wounds have become common clinical issues that seriously threaten health and impose significant social and economic burdens.AIM To investigate how depression,anxiety,peripheral blood inflammatory factors,and stress levels affect therapeutic outcomes in patients with chronic wounds.METHODS Retrospectively collected clinical data from 110 patients with chronic wounds treated at Changde Hospital,Xiangya School of Medicine,Central South University(The First People’s Hospital of Changde City)between January 2021 and December 2023,categorizing them into effective and ineffective groups based on treatment effects.Differences between both groups were analyzed using univariate analysis,independent risk factors identified via logistic regression,and their predictive value assessed through receiver operating characteristic analysis.RESULTS Following treatment,95 cases were classified as the effective group(cured or improved),while 15 cases with improvement formed the ineffective group.Significant differences between both groups were noted in wound area,infection status,daily bed time,Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale(HAMA)scores,Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HAMD)scores,and levels of interleukin-6,tumor necrosis factor-alpha,and superoxide dismutase(P<0.05).Logistic regression analysis identified a wound area≥7 cm^(2),HAMA≥9 scores,and HAMD≥8 scores were independent risk factors for ineffective treatment in patients with chronic wounds(P<0.05).The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the area under the curve for ineffective treatment based on wound area,HAMA,and HAMD was 0.767,0.805,and 0.768 respectively.CONCLUSION Wound size,anxiety,and depression are significant factors influencing the therapeutic outcomes in patients with chronic wounds that require careful attention,alongside the development of appropriate strategies.展开更多
This paper provides for the presentation, in an integrated manner, of a sequence of results addressing the consequences of the presence of an information steward in an ecosystem under attack and establishes the approp...This paper provides for the presentation, in an integrated manner, of a sequence of results addressing the consequences of the presence of an information steward in an ecosystem under attack and establishes the appropriate defensive investment responses, thus allowing for a cohesive understanding of the nature of the information steward in a variety of attack contexts. We determine the level of investment in information security and attacking intensity when agents react in a non-coordinated manner and compare them to the case of the system’s coordinated response undertaken under the guidance of a steward. We show that only in the most well-designed institutional set-up the presence of the well-informed steward provides for an increase of the system’s resilience to attacks. In the case in which both the information available to the steward and its policy instruments are curtailed, coordinated policy responses yield no additional benefits to individual agents and in some case they actually compared unfavourably to atomistic responses. The system’s sustainability does improve in the presence of a steward, which deters attackers and reduces the numbers and intensity of attacks. In most cases, the resulting investment expenditure undertaken by the agents in the ecosystem exceeds its Pareto efficient magnitude.展开更多
Background: Improving Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in health care settings is a critical prerequisite for achieving national health goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The World Health Organization (WHO) ...Background: Improving Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in health care settings is a critical prerequisite for achieving national health goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a target for each United Nations member state to reach by 2030. Each member state is required to reach by 2022, 2025 and 2030 at least 60%, 80% and 100%, respectively of basic level of service of the five elements which are water, sanitation, hygiene, waste management and environmental cleaning. Methods: This study aimed to evaluate and document the current state of basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services in all lower-level health care facilities in the Dar es Salaam region of Tanzania as of July 2022. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 99 public dispensaries in the Dar es Salaam region’s five councils: Ubungo, Kigamboni, Kinondoni and Temeke Municipalities, and Ilala City. The interviewee form and observational checklists were both digitalized using the Kobo tool software. The respondents were health care facility in-charges or nurse in-charges. Data were downloaded, validated, and imported to Stata version 15 for analysis. Results: The basic WASH level per JMP is far below the target in 2022. Each member state by 2022 is required to reach at least 60% of the basic level of service of each element. We found a low coverage of basic WASH in the 99 dispensaries included in this study. The basic WASH coverage was met in only 10 (10.1%) of the dispensaries, while the remaining 89 (89.9%) dispensaries fall on limited WASH services. Conclusion: This study revealed lower coverage of basic WASH services in dispensaries. An urgent need is required to improve the status of WASH in all the dispensaries and facilitate the provision of quality health care services, patient safety and reduce health care associated infections.展开更多
Understanding the properties of nuclei near the double magic nucleus^(40)Ca is crucial for both nuclear theory and experiments.In this study,Ca isotopes were investigated using an extended pairing-plus-quadrupole mode...Understanding the properties of nuclei near the double magic nucleus^(40)Ca is crucial for both nuclear theory and experiments.In this study,Ca isotopes were investigated using an extended pairing-plus-quadrupole model with monopole corrections.The negative-parity states of^(44)Ca were coupled with the intruder orbital g_(9/2)at 4 MeV.The values of E_(4+)/E_(2+)agree well with experimental trend from^(42)Ca to^(50)Ca,considering monopole effects between νf_(7/2)and νp_(3/2)(νf_(5/2)).This monopole effect,determined from data of^(48)Ca and^(50)Ca,supports the proposed new nuclear magic number N=34 by predicting a high-energy 2^(+)state in^(54)Ca.展开更多
While the interaction between information and disease in static networks has been extensively investigated,many studies have ignored the characteristics of network evolution.In this study,we construct a new two-layer ...While the interaction between information and disease in static networks has been extensively investigated,many studies have ignored the characteristics of network evolution.In this study,we construct a new two-layer coupling model to explore the interactions between information and disease.The upper layer describes the diffusion of disease-related information,and the lower layer represents the disease transmission.We then use power-law distributions to examine the influence of asymmetric activity levels on dynamic propagation,revealing a mapping relationship characterizing the interconnected propagation of information and diseases among partial nodes within the network.Subsequently,we derive the disease outbreak threshold by using the microscopic Markov-chain approach(MMCA).Finally,we perform extensive Monte Carlo(MC)numerical simulations to verify the accuracy of our theoretical results.Our findings indicate that the activity levels of individuals in the disease transmission layer have a more significant influence on disease transmission compared with the individual activity levels in the information diffusion layer.Moreover,reducing the damping factor can delay disease outbreaks and suppress disease transmission,while improving individual quarantine measures can contribute positively to disease control.This study provides valuable insights into policymakers for developing outbreak prevention and control strategies.展开更多
In this study,we estimate the absolute vertical land motions at three tidal stations with collocated Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)receivers over French Polynesia during the period 2007-2020,and obtain,as an...In this study,we estimate the absolute vertical land motions at three tidal stations with collocated Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)receivers over French Polynesia during the period 2007-2020,and obtain,as ancillary results,estimates of the absolute changes in sea level at the same locations.To verify our processing approach to determining vertical motion,we first modeled vertical motion at the International GNSS Service(IGS)THTI station located in the capital island of Tahiti and compared our estimate with previous independent determinations,with a good agreement.We obtained the following estimates for the vertical land motions at the tide gauges:Tubuai island,Austral Archipelago-0.92±0.17 mm/yr,Vairao village,Tahiti Iti:-0.49±0.39 mm/yr,Rikitea,Gambier Archipelago-0.43±0.17 mm/yr.The absolute variations of the sea level are:Tubuai island,Austral Archipelago 5.25±0.60 mm/yr,Vairao village,Tahiti Iti:3.62±0.52 mm/yr,Rikitea,Gambier Archipelago 1.52±0.23 mm/yr.We discuss these absolute values in light of the values obtained from altimetric measurements and other means in French Polynesia.展开更多
Background Boars fed a mixed form of inorganic and organic iron in excess of the NRC recommended levels still develop anemia,which suggested that the current level and form of iron supplementation in boar diets may be...Background Boars fed a mixed form of inorganic and organic iron in excess of the NRC recommended levels still develop anemia,which suggested that the current level and form of iron supplementation in boar diets may be inappropriate.Therefore,56 healthy Topeka E line boars aged 15–21 months were randomly divided into 5 groups:basal diet supplemented with 96 mg/kg ferrous sulfate(FeSO_(4))and 54 mg/kg glycine chelated iron(Gly-Fe,control);80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg Gly-Fe;80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg methionine hydroxyl analogue chelated iron(MHA-Fe,from CalimetFe)for 16 weeks.The effects of dietary iron supplementation with different sources and levels on semen quality in boars were investigated.Results 1)Serum Fe and hemoglobin concentrations were not affected by reduced dietary iron levels in the 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg Gly-Fe and MHA-Fe groups compared with the control group(P>0.05).2)Serum interleukin-6(IL-6)and sperm malondialdehyde(MDA)levels in the 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe groups were lower than those in the control group(P<0.05),and higher serum superoxide dismutase levels and lower MDA levels in the 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe group(P<0.05).3)Boars in the 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg Gly-Fe and MHA-Fe groups had lower serum hepcidin(P<0.01),ferritin(P<0.05),and transferrin receptor(P<0.01)concentrations,and boars in the 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe group had higher seminal plasma Fe concentrations compared with the control group.4)Boars in the 80 mg/kg and 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe groups had lower abnormal sperm rate and in situ oscillating sperm ratio compared to the control group at weeks 12 and/or 16 of the trial.However,the effect of Gly-Fe on improving semen quality in boars was not evident.5)Serum IL-6 level was positively correlated with hepcidin concentration(P<0.05),which in turn was significantly positively correlated with abnormal sperm rate(P<0.05).Furthermore,significant correlations were also found between indicators of iron status and oxidative stress and semen quality parameters.Conclusions Dietary supplementation with 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe did not induce iron deficiency,but rather reduced serum inflammatory levels and hepcidin concentration,alleviated oxidative stress,increased body iron utilization,and improved semen quality in adult boars.展开更多
At present,one of the methods used to determine the height of points on the Earth’s surface is Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)leveling.It is possible to determine the orthometric or normal height by this met...At present,one of the methods used to determine the height of points on the Earth’s surface is Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)leveling.It is possible to determine the orthometric or normal height by this method only if there is a geoid or quasi-geoid height model available.This paper proposes the methodology for local correction of the heights of high-order global geoid models such as EGM08,EIGEN-6C4,GECO,and XGM2019e_2159.This methodology was tested in different areas of the research field,covering various relief forms.The dependence of the change in corrected height accuracy on the input data was analyzed,and the correction was also conducted for model heights in three tidal systems:"tide free","mean tide",and"zero tide".The results show that the heights of EIGEN-6C4 model can be corrected with an accuracy of up to 1 cm for flat and foothill terrains with the dimensionality of 1°×1°,2°×2°,and 3°×3°.The EGM08 model presents an almost identical result.The EIGEN-6C4 model is best suited for mountainous relief and provides an accuracy of 1.5 cm on the 1°×1°area.The height correction accuracy of GECO and XGM2019e_2159 models is slightly poor,which has fuzziness in terms of numerical fluctuation.展开更多
Objective Pertussis cases have increased markedly since 2018 in Guangxi.The aim of this study was to evaluate antibody levels and the infection status of pertussis in the resident population.Method A total of 10,215 s...Objective Pertussis cases have increased markedly since 2018 in Guangxi.The aim of this study was to evaluate antibody levels and the infection status of pertussis in the resident population.Method A total of 10,215 serum samples from residents were collected from August-November 2018 and tested for anti-pertussis IgG and toxin IgG using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results Of the collected samples,1,833(17.94%)tested positive for anti-pertussis IgG,with the median concentration of 16.06 IU/mL.Antibody level<10 IU/mL accounted for more than 60%in children under 4 years of age,but declined with age,whereas the percentages of the other three levels(10-40,40-50,and≥50 IU/mL)increased almost with age(P<0.001).Moreover,7,924 samples were selected for anti-pertussis toxin IgG,of which 653(8.24%)tested positive(≥40 IU/mL)with the median concentration of 5.89 IU/mL,and 204 participants(2.56%)had recent pertussis infection(≥100 IU/mL).Among the different age groups,the highest rates of positivity and recent infection were observed at 11-20 years of age,the lowest positivity rate at 5 years of age,and the lowest recent infection rate at 4 years of age(P<0.001,P=0.005,respectively).Conclusion The survey results showed that all age groups in Guangxi lacked immunity against pertussis,which was one of the main factors contributing to the resurgence of pertussis in 2018.In addition,the prevalence of pertussis is relatively high in Guangxi,and its incidence is seriously underestimated,especially in adolescents and adults.展开更多
文摘Computed tomography is an indispensable X-ray imaging modality used to diagnose numerous pathologies, but it can also involve the delivery of high ionizing radiation doses harmful to the health of patients. This study aims to survey the level of radiation doses delivered to child patients during head exams in CT imaging to set up the Dosimetric Reference Levels (DRLs), a routine dose optimization tool, based on data acquired at the University Hospital of Angré (UHA), the University Hospital of Treichville (UHT) and the Polyclinic Hospital Farah (Farah) for optimizing procedures in Ivorian hospitals. Prospectively performed on 334 CT images of 186 child patients, this study was carried out on CT systems such as Hitachi Scenaria, Sinovision Insitum, and Philips Incisive used respectively at UHA, UHT and Farah. Children’s scan data were classified into four age bands: vol or dose-length product as DLP) value, whatever the hospital, increases with respect to the age of child patients. Based on the 75th percentile of the whole dose distributions, the DRLs of the CTDIvol is 54.37 mGy whatever the age groups and those of the DLP with respect to age bands are 1224.55 mGy∙cm, 1414.06 mGy∙cm, 1632.24 mGy.cm and 1544.57 mGy∙cm, respectively. The averaged values of CTDIvol and DLP smaller than the corresponding DRLs values suggest that practices in our three facilities are optimized. However, comparing our results with those from different international studies, we see that the CTDIvol and DLP values obtained in the present work are higher. These results suggest additional surveys to ensure our DRLs values and efforts from radiologists, imaging technicians and medical physicists to strengthen clinical procedures for the radiation protection of children undergoing CT scans in Côte d’Ivoire.
文摘The purpose of this research was to evaluate radiological safety in pediatric radiology in hospitals in the Kongo Central province of the DRC. To this end, we surveyed a convenience sample of 50 health professionals, including 10 radiologists working in the hospitals covered by the survey, to assess the practice of pediatric radiology and the degree of compliance with radiation protection principles for the safety of children and the environment. We collected radiophysical parameters to calculate entrance doses in pediatric radiology in radiology departments to determine the dosimetric level by comparison with the diagnostic reference levels of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). All in all, we found that in Kongo Central in the DRC, many health personnel surveyed reported that more than 30% of requested radiological examinations are not justified. Also, after comparing the entrance doses produced in the surveyed departments with those of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), a statistically significant difference was found in pediatric radiology between the average doses in five out of six surveyed departments and those of the ICRP. Therefore, almost all of the surveyed departments were found to be highly irradiating in children, while excessive X-ray irradiation in children can have significant effects due to their increased sensitivity to radiation. Among the risks are: increased cancer risks, damage to developing cells, potential genetic effects, and neurological effects. This is why support for implementing radiation protection principles is a necessity to promote the safety of patients and the environment against the harmful effects of X-rays in conventional radiology.
文摘Flood extremes due to sea level rise and extreme precipitation are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. However, despite the need for accurate climate change risk assessment, significant misconceptions in key risk terms, including vulnerability and impact, could lead to risk miscalculations. These misconceptions around risk concepts derive from the lack of risk terms’ standardization and the gaps in an integrated and widely accepted methodology for assessing climate change risks. Risk assessment frameworks should follow the specialties of each element/sector it is applied on and the special features of each climate hazard. Also, risk assessment matrix should not follow specific design settings but it should better follow the needs of each study, so as to optimize the understanding of each risk. Through an extensive literature review, this is the first paper that identifies gaps, inconsistencies and misuses of climate risk concepts and suggests specific systemization and standardization of risk terms definitions. Finally, it develops a climate change risk assessment framework and matrix, focusing on sea level rise and extreme precipitation, which could be widely implemented in risk assessment of all elements at sea level rise and extreme precipitation risk.
文摘Objective:The objective of this study was to compare the effect of nurse and beloved family member’s recording voice on consciousness and physical parameters in patients with coma state.Materials and Methods:A randomized control trial parallel group design was conducted among 45 comatose patients divided into two intervention groups,i.e.nurse voice stimulus group,receiving nurses voice with standard care,family members voice stimulus group receiving their beloved family member voice with standard care and one control group receiving only standard care in medicine intensive care unit.The intervention was provided three times a day,each lasting 5 min for 7 days in addition to standard care.Repeated measure analysis of variance and independent t-test were used to compare within and between groups,respectively.Results:The study found significant differences in Glasgow coma scale(GCS)scores within both the nurse(F=2.78,P=0.042)and family member(F=10.27,P=0.0001)voice stimulus groups over 7 days.Comparing GCS scores between intervention groups showed significant variations before(P=0.028),during(P=0.047),and after(P=0.036)the intervention on day 7.Comparing GCS scores between the family members’voice stimulus group and the control group,significant changes were observed on days 5 and 7(P=0.043,0.030,0.030,and 0.014,0.012,0.012)before,during,and after the intervention.Conclusions:The use of beloved family members’voices proved more effective in elevating the patients’level of consciousness compared to both the nurse voice stimulus group and the control group.
文摘BACKGROUND Chronic liver disease is a growing global health problem,leading to hepatic decompensation characterized by an array of clinical and biochemical complic-ations.Several scoring systems have been introduced in assessing the severity of hepatic decompensation with the most frequent ones are Child-Pugh score,model of end-stage liver disease(MELD)score,and MELD-Na score.Anemia is frequently observed in cirrhotic patients and is linked to worsened clinical outcomes.Although studies have explored anemia in liver disease,few have investigated the correlation of hemoglobin level with the severity of hepatic decompensation.AIM To determine the relationship between hemoglobin levels and the severity of decompensated liver disease and comparing the strength of this correlation using the Child-Pugh,MELD,and MELD-Na scores.METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital with 652 decompensated liver disease patients enrolled in the study.Data was collected on demographics,clinical history,and laboratory findings,including hemoglobin levels,bilirubin,albumin,prothrombin time(international normalized ratio),sodium,and creatinine.The Child-Pugh,MELD,and MELD-Na scores were calculated.Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26,and correlations between hemoglobin levels and severity scores were assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient.RESULTS The study included 405 males(62.1%)and 247 females(37.9%)with an average age of 58.8 years.Significant inverse correlations were found between hemoglobin levels and Child-Pugh,MELD,and MELD-Na scores(P<0.01),with the MELD scoring system being the strongest correlator among all.One-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences in hemoglobin levels across the severity groups of each scoring system(P=0.001).Tukey's post hoc analysis confirmed significant internal differences among each severity group.CONCLUSION Understanding the correlation between hemoglobin and liver disease severity can improve patient management by offering insights into prognosis and guiding treatment decisions.
文摘Aspect-oriented sentiment analysis is a meticulous sentiment analysis task that aims to analyse the sentiment polarity of specific aspects. Most of the current research builds graph convolutional networks based on dependent syntactic trees, which improves the classification performance of the models to some extent. However, the technical limitations of dependent syntactic trees can introduce considerable noise into the model. Meanwhile, it is difficult for a single graph convolutional network to aggregate both semantic and syntactic structural information of nodes, which affects the final sentence classification. To cope with the above problems, this paper proposes a bi-channel graph convolutional network model. The model introduces a phrase structure tree and transforms it into a hierarchical phrase matrix. The adjacency matrix of the dependent syntactic tree and the hierarchical phrase matrix are combined as the initial matrix of the graph convolutional network to enhance the syntactic information. The semantic information feature representations of the sentences are obtained by the graph convolutional network with a multi-head attention mechanism and fused to achieve complementary learning of dual-channel features. Experimental results show that the model performs well and improves the accuracy of sentiment classification on three public benchmark datasets, namely Rest14, Lap14 and Twitter.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.72101236China Postdoctoral Science Foundation,No.2022M722900+1 种基金Collaborative Innovation Project of Zhengzhou City,No.XTCX2023006Nursing Team Project of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University,No.HLKY2023005.
文摘BACKGROUND Within the normal range,elevated alanine aminotransferase(ALT)levels are associated with an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease(MAFLD).AIM To investigate the associations between repeated high-normal ALT measurements and the risk of new-onset MAFLD prospectively.METHODS A cohort of 3553 participants followed for four consecutive health examinations over 4 years was selected.The incidence rate,cumulative times,and equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of excess high-normal ALT levels(ehALT)were measured.Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyse the association between the cumulative effects of ehALT and the risk of new-onset MAFLD.RESULTS A total of 83.13%of participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels.The incidence rate of MAFLD showed a linear increasing trend in the cumulative ehALT group.Compared with those in the low-normal ALT group,the multivariate adjusted hazard ratios of the equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of ehALT were 1.651[95%confidence interval(CI):1.199-2.273]and 1.535(95%CI:1.119-2.106)in the third quartile and 1.616(95%CI:1.162-2.246)and 1.580(95%CI:1.155-2.162)in the fourth quartile,respectively.CONCLUSION Most participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels.Long-term high-normal ALT levels were associated with a cumulative increased risk of new-onset MAFLD.
基金Projects(51925402,52334005,52304094)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(20201102004)supported by the Shanxi Science and Technology Major Project,China。
文摘The mechanical properties of residual coal pillars under the influence of upward mining disturbances significantly affect the safety of residual mining activities on working faces.This study conducted low-frequency disturbance dynamic uniaxial compression tests on coal specimens using a self-developed dynamic-static load coupling electro-hydraulic servo system,and studied the strength evolutions,surface deformations,acoustic emission(AE)characteristic parameters,and the failure modes of coal specimens with different static preloading levels were studied.The disturbance damage is positively correlated with the coal specimen static preload level.Specifically,the cumulative AE count rates of the initial accelerated damage stage for the coal specimens with static preloading level of 60%and 70%of the uniaxial compressive strength(UCS)were 2.66 and 3.19 times that of the 50%UCS specimens,respectively.Macroscopically,this behaviour manifested as a decrease in the compressive strength,and the mean strengths of the disturbance-damaged coal specimens with 60%and 70%of UCS static preloading decreased by 8.53%and 9.32%,respectively,compared to those of the specimens under pure static loading.The crack sources,such as the primary fissures,strongly control the dynamic response of the coal specimen.The difference between the dynamic responses of the coal specimens and that of dense rocks is significant.
文摘BACKGROUND The incidence of chronic wounds is rising due to an aging population and lifestyle changes in our country.In addition,as the disease spectrum evolves,chronic wounds have become common clinical issues that seriously threaten health and impose significant social and economic burdens.AIM To investigate how depression,anxiety,peripheral blood inflammatory factors,and stress levels affect therapeutic outcomes in patients with chronic wounds.METHODS Retrospectively collected clinical data from 110 patients with chronic wounds treated at Changde Hospital,Xiangya School of Medicine,Central South University(The First People’s Hospital of Changde City)between January 2021 and December 2023,categorizing them into effective and ineffective groups based on treatment effects.Differences between both groups were analyzed using univariate analysis,independent risk factors identified via logistic regression,and their predictive value assessed through receiver operating characteristic analysis.RESULTS Following treatment,95 cases were classified as the effective group(cured or improved),while 15 cases with improvement formed the ineffective group.Significant differences between both groups were noted in wound area,infection status,daily bed time,Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale(HAMA)scores,Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HAMD)scores,and levels of interleukin-6,tumor necrosis factor-alpha,and superoxide dismutase(P<0.05).Logistic regression analysis identified a wound area≥7 cm^(2),HAMA≥9 scores,and HAMD≥8 scores were independent risk factors for ineffective treatment in patients with chronic wounds(P<0.05).The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the area under the curve for ineffective treatment based on wound area,HAMA,and HAMD was 0.767,0.805,and 0.768 respectively.CONCLUSION Wound size,anxiety,and depression are significant factors influencing the therapeutic outcomes in patients with chronic wounds that require careful attention,alongside the development of appropriate strategies.
文摘This paper provides for the presentation, in an integrated manner, of a sequence of results addressing the consequences of the presence of an information steward in an ecosystem under attack and establishes the appropriate defensive investment responses, thus allowing for a cohesive understanding of the nature of the information steward in a variety of attack contexts. We determine the level of investment in information security and attacking intensity when agents react in a non-coordinated manner and compare them to the case of the system’s coordinated response undertaken under the guidance of a steward. We show that only in the most well-designed institutional set-up the presence of the well-informed steward provides for an increase of the system’s resilience to attacks. In the case in which both the information available to the steward and its policy instruments are curtailed, coordinated policy responses yield no additional benefits to individual agents and in some case they actually compared unfavourably to atomistic responses. The system’s sustainability does improve in the presence of a steward, which deters attackers and reduces the numbers and intensity of attacks. In most cases, the resulting investment expenditure undertaken by the agents in the ecosystem exceeds its Pareto efficient magnitude.
文摘Background: Improving Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in health care settings is a critical prerequisite for achieving national health goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a target for each United Nations member state to reach by 2030. Each member state is required to reach by 2022, 2025 and 2030 at least 60%, 80% and 100%, respectively of basic level of service of the five elements which are water, sanitation, hygiene, waste management and environmental cleaning. Methods: This study aimed to evaluate and document the current state of basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services in all lower-level health care facilities in the Dar es Salaam region of Tanzania as of July 2022. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 99 public dispensaries in the Dar es Salaam region’s five councils: Ubungo, Kigamboni, Kinondoni and Temeke Municipalities, and Ilala City. The interviewee form and observational checklists were both digitalized using the Kobo tool software. The respondents were health care facility in-charges or nurse in-charges. Data were downloaded, validated, and imported to Stata version 15 for analysis. Results: The basic WASH level per JMP is far below the target in 2022. Each member state by 2022 is required to reach at least 60% of the basic level of service of each element. We found a low coverage of basic WASH in the 99 dispensaries included in this study. The basic WASH coverage was met in only 10 (10.1%) of the dispensaries, while the remaining 89 (89.9%) dispensaries fall on limited WASH services. Conclusion: This study revealed lower coverage of basic WASH services in dispensaries. An urgent need is required to improve the status of WASH in all the dispensaries and facilitate the provision of quality health care services, patient safety and reduce health care associated infections.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.12175199,U2267205,12475124)the ZSTU intramural grant(22062267-Y)。
文摘Understanding the properties of nuclei near the double magic nucleus^(40)Ca is crucial for both nuclear theory and experiments.In this study,Ca isotopes were investigated using an extended pairing-plus-quadrupole model with monopole corrections.The negative-parity states of^(44)Ca were coupled with the intruder orbital g_(9/2)at 4 MeV.The values of E_(4+)/E_(2+)agree well with experimental trend from^(42)Ca to^(50)Ca,considering monopole effects between νf_(7/2)and νp_(3/2)(νf_(5/2)).This monopole effect,determined from data of^(48)Ca and^(50)Ca,supports the proposed new nuclear magic number N=34 by predicting a high-energy 2^(+)state in^(54)Ca.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 72174121 and 71774111)the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learningthe Project for the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, China (Grant No. 21ZR1444100)
文摘While the interaction between information and disease in static networks has been extensively investigated,many studies have ignored the characteristics of network evolution.In this study,we construct a new two-layer coupling model to explore the interactions between information and disease.The upper layer describes the diffusion of disease-related information,and the lower layer represents the disease transmission.We then use power-law distributions to examine the influence of asymmetric activity levels on dynamic propagation,revealing a mapping relationship characterizing the interconnected propagation of information and diseases among partial nodes within the network.Subsequently,we derive the disease outbreak threshold by using the microscopic Markov-chain approach(MMCA).Finally,we perform extensive Monte Carlo(MC)numerical simulations to verify the accuracy of our theoretical results.Our findings indicate that the activity levels of individuals in the disease transmission layer have a more significant influence on disease transmission compared with the individual activity levels in the information diffusion layer.Moreover,reducing the damping factor can delay disease outbreaks and suppress disease transmission,while improving individual quarantine measures can contribute positively to disease control.This study provides valuable insights into policymakers for developing outbreak prevention and control strategies.
基金the University of French Polynesiafunding by several successive“Decision Aide a la Recherche”(DAR)grants to the Geodesy Observatory of Tahiti from the French Space Agency(CNES)+2 种基金fundings from the local government of French Polynesia(Observatoire Polynesien du Rechauffement Climatique)funding by“National Natural Science Foundation of China”(Grand No.41931075)funding by“the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities"(Grand No.2042022kf1198)。
文摘In this study,we estimate the absolute vertical land motions at three tidal stations with collocated Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)receivers over French Polynesia during the period 2007-2020,and obtain,as ancillary results,estimates of the absolute changes in sea level at the same locations.To verify our processing approach to determining vertical motion,we first modeled vertical motion at the International GNSS Service(IGS)THTI station located in the capital island of Tahiti and compared our estimate with previous independent determinations,with a good agreement.We obtained the following estimates for the vertical land motions at the tide gauges:Tubuai island,Austral Archipelago-0.92±0.17 mm/yr,Vairao village,Tahiti Iti:-0.49±0.39 mm/yr,Rikitea,Gambier Archipelago-0.43±0.17 mm/yr.The absolute variations of the sea level are:Tubuai island,Austral Archipelago 5.25±0.60 mm/yr,Vairao village,Tahiti Iti:3.62±0.52 mm/yr,Rikitea,Gambier Archipelago 1.52±0.23 mm/yr.We discuss these absolute values in light of the values obtained from altimetric measurements and other means in French Polynesia.
基金China Agriculture Research System(CARS-36)Major Project of Technical Innovation in Hubei Province(No.2022BBA0056)+1 种基金Dekon-Huazhong Agricultural University Project Co-operation AgreementSchool-Enterprise Cooperation Project-Micronutrient Nutrition and Mechanism of Breeding Pigs。
文摘Background Boars fed a mixed form of inorganic and organic iron in excess of the NRC recommended levels still develop anemia,which suggested that the current level and form of iron supplementation in boar diets may be inappropriate.Therefore,56 healthy Topeka E line boars aged 15–21 months were randomly divided into 5 groups:basal diet supplemented with 96 mg/kg ferrous sulfate(FeSO_(4))and 54 mg/kg glycine chelated iron(Gly-Fe,control);80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg Gly-Fe;80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg methionine hydroxyl analogue chelated iron(MHA-Fe,from CalimetFe)for 16 weeks.The effects of dietary iron supplementation with different sources and levels on semen quality in boars were investigated.Results 1)Serum Fe and hemoglobin concentrations were not affected by reduced dietary iron levels in the 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg Gly-Fe and MHA-Fe groups compared with the control group(P>0.05).2)Serum interleukin-6(IL-6)and sperm malondialdehyde(MDA)levels in the 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe groups were lower than those in the control group(P<0.05),and higher serum superoxide dismutase levels and lower MDA levels in the 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe group(P<0.05).3)Boars in the 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg Gly-Fe and MHA-Fe groups had lower serum hepcidin(P<0.01),ferritin(P<0.05),and transferrin receptor(P<0.01)concentrations,and boars in the 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe group had higher seminal plasma Fe concentrations compared with the control group.4)Boars in the 80 mg/kg and 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe groups had lower abnormal sperm rate and in situ oscillating sperm ratio compared to the control group at weeks 12 and/or 16 of the trial.However,the effect of Gly-Fe on improving semen quality in boars was not evident.5)Serum IL-6 level was positively correlated with hepcidin concentration(P<0.05),which in turn was significantly positively correlated with abnormal sperm rate(P<0.05).Furthermore,significant correlations were also found between indicators of iron status and oxidative stress and semen quality parameters.Conclusions Dietary supplementation with 80 mg/kg or 115 mg/kg MHA-Fe did not induce iron deficiency,but rather reduced serum inflammatory levels and hepcidin concentration,alleviated oxidative stress,increased body iron utilization,and improved semen quality in adult boars.
基金the International Center for Global Earth Models(ICGEM)for the height anomaly and gravity anomaly data and Bureau Gravimetrique International(BGI)for free-air gravity anomaly data from the World Gravity Map project(WGM2012)The authors are grateful to Głowny Urza˛d Geodezji i Kartografii of Poland for the height anomaly data of the quasi-geoid PL-geoid2021.
文摘At present,one of the methods used to determine the height of points on the Earth’s surface is Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)leveling.It is possible to determine the orthometric or normal height by this method only if there is a geoid or quasi-geoid height model available.This paper proposes the methodology for local correction of the heights of high-order global geoid models such as EGM08,EIGEN-6C4,GECO,and XGM2019e_2159.This methodology was tested in different areas of the research field,covering various relief forms.The dependence of the change in corrected height accuracy on the input data was analyzed,and the correction was also conducted for model heights in three tidal systems:"tide free","mean tide",and"zero tide".The results show that the heights of EIGEN-6C4 model can be corrected with an accuracy of up to 1 cm for flat and foothill terrains with the dimensionality of 1°×1°,2°×2°,and 3°×3°.The EGM08 model presents an almost identical result.The EIGEN-6C4 model is best suited for mountainous relief and provides an accuracy of 1.5 cm on the 1°×1°area.The height correction accuracy of GECO and XGM2019e_2159 models is slightly poor,which has fuzziness in terms of numerical fluctuation.
基金approved by the Ethics Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Center for Disease Control and Prevention(GXIRB 2018-0005),and the participants signed informed consent forms.
文摘Objective Pertussis cases have increased markedly since 2018 in Guangxi.The aim of this study was to evaluate antibody levels and the infection status of pertussis in the resident population.Method A total of 10,215 serum samples from residents were collected from August-November 2018 and tested for anti-pertussis IgG and toxin IgG using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results Of the collected samples,1,833(17.94%)tested positive for anti-pertussis IgG,with the median concentration of 16.06 IU/mL.Antibody level<10 IU/mL accounted for more than 60%in children under 4 years of age,but declined with age,whereas the percentages of the other three levels(10-40,40-50,and≥50 IU/mL)increased almost with age(P<0.001).Moreover,7,924 samples were selected for anti-pertussis toxin IgG,of which 653(8.24%)tested positive(≥40 IU/mL)with the median concentration of 5.89 IU/mL,and 204 participants(2.56%)had recent pertussis infection(≥100 IU/mL).Among the different age groups,the highest rates of positivity and recent infection were observed at 11-20 years of age,the lowest positivity rate at 5 years of age,and the lowest recent infection rate at 4 years of age(P<0.001,P=0.005,respectively).Conclusion The survey results showed that all age groups in Guangxi lacked immunity against pertussis,which was one of the main factors contributing to the resurgence of pertussis in 2018.In addition,the prevalence of pertussis is relatively high in Guangxi,and its incidence is seriously underestimated,especially in adolescents and adults.
