Abstract
BACKGROUND
Performance of electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria for echocardiographically diagnosed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in Chinese hypertensive patients is not well known. We ...investigated the accuracy of various ECG criteria for the diagnosis of the echocardiographic LVH according to the new cutoff values of left ventricular mass (LVM) index (>115 g/m2 for men and >95 g/m2 for women) in Chinese hypertensive patients.
METHODS
Our study included 702 consecutive hypertensive inpatients including 92 (13.1%) concentric and 121 (17.2%) eccentric LVH on standard echocardiography. Diagnostic accuracy of 7 ECG criteria was evaluated by calculating sensitivity and specificity and by using the receiver operating characteristic curves.
RESULTS
The ECG criteria for the detection of the echocardiographically defined LVH had a sensitivity of 15%–31.9% and specificity of 91.6%–99.2% overall, 20.7%–43.5% and 91.6%–99.2% concentric, and 7.4%–23.1% and 91.6%–99.2% eccentric. ECG diagnosis of LVH defined as the positive diagnosis of any of 4 ECG criteria including Sokolow–Lyon voltage, Cornell voltage, Cornell product, and RavL voltage had a sensitivity of 54% and specificity of 86.3% overall, 71.7% and 86.3% concentric, and 40.5% and 86.3% eccentric. After adjustment for confounding factors, various ECG criteria were significantly correlated with LVM, with standardized β coefficients from 0.20 to 0.39 (P < 0.001) and the highest coefficient for the Cornell product criterion.
CONCLUSIONS
All ECG LVH indexes had low sensitivity and high specificity in Chinese hypertensive patients. Combination of 4 or all ECG criteria might improve sensitivity without any loss of specificity.
High speed wireless communications are highly desirable for many industrial and scientific underwater applications. Acoustic communications suffer from high latency and limited data rates, while ...Radio Frequency communications are severely limited by attenuation in seawater. Optical communications are a promising alternative, offering high transmission rates (up to Gb/s), while water has relatively low attenuation at visible wavelengths. Here we demonstrate the use of series-connected micro-light-emitting-diode (μLED) arrays consisting of 6 μLED pixels either 60 μm or 80 μm in diameter and operating at 450 nm. These devices increase the output power whilst maintaining relatively high modulation bandwidth. Using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) we demonstrate underwater wireless data transmission at rates of up to 4.92 Gb/s, 3.22 Gb/s and 3.4 Gb/s over 1.5 m, 3 m and 4.5 m, respectively, with corresponding bit error ratios (BERs) of 1.5 × 10 -3 , 1.1 × 10 -3 and 3.1 × 10 -3 , through clear tap water, and Mb/s rates through >5 attenuation lengths (ALs) in turbid waters.
Studying urban land use and its impact on carbon emissions is crucial for achieving China’s dual carbon goals. This research utilized the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) scenarios 126, 245, and ...585 from the Sixth International Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), along with a coupled System Dynamics (SD) and Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model and a carbon emission coefficient method to simulate and predict Xi’an’s land use carbon emissions from 2020 to 2040. The results indicate the following: (1) Cultivated and forest lands are the predominant land use types in Xi’an, with cultivated and grassland areas projected to decline under all three SSP scenarios by 2040. The most significant expansion of construction land, primarily at the expense of farmland, is projected under the SSP585 scenario, with an increase of 515.92 km2 by 2040. (2) Land use carbon emissions increased from 414.15 × 104 t in 2000 to 2376.10 × 104 t in 2020, with construction land being the primary source of emissions and forest land serving as the main carbon sink. However, the carbon sink capacity remained low at only 21.38 × 104 t in 2020. (3) Carbon emissions are expected to continue increasing under all scenarios through 2030 and 2040, though at a decreasing rate. The SSP126 scenario predicts the lowest emissions, reaching 9186.00 × 104 t by 2040, while SSP585 predicts the highest at 14,935.00 × 104 t. The findings of this study provide theoretical support for future low-carbon and high-quality urban development strategies.
The present study aims to investigate the effects of
on the proliferation and apoptosis of human osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes by targeting tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 ...(TRAF6) through nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signalling pathway. Human normal and OA chondrocytes were selected and divided into the normal group, blank group, negative control (NC) group,
mimics group,
inhibitors,
inhibitor + si-TRAF6 group and si-TRAF6 group. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was applied to detect the expressions of
,
mRNA and
mRNA. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expressions of TRAF6 and NF-κB. CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry were used to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis. Compared with normal chondrocytes, the expression of
decreased, while the mRNA and protein expressions of TRAF6 and NF-κB increased in OA chondrocytes. OA chondrocytes had a lower proliferation rate and a higher apoptosis rate than the normal chondrocytes. Compared with the blank, NC and si-TRAF6 groups, the expression of
increased in the
mimics group, but decreased in the
inhibitors and
inhibitor + si-TRAF6 groups. Compared with the blank, NC and
inhibitor + si-TRAF6 groups, the mRNA and protein expressions of TRAF6 and NF-κB decreased, cell proliferation rate increased and cell apoptosis rate decreased in the
mimics and si-TRAF6 groups, while opposite trends were observed in the
inhibitors group. Our study suggests that
could promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis of OA chondrocytes by inhibiting TRAF6 expression and suppressing the activation of NF-κB signalling pathway.
Lacustrine shale oil and gas are important fields for unconventional exploration and development in China, and organic-rich shale deposition lays down the critical foundation for hydrocarbon ...generation. There are two sets of shale, the Dongyuemiao and Da’anzhai Members, in the Ziliujing Formation in the Sichuan Basin. To identify the differential enrichment characteristics of organic matter and clarify its controlling factors, geochemical analyses of organic and inorganic geochemical analyses were performed. The results showed that the total organic carbon content of the Dongyuemiao shale (1.36%) is slightly higher than that of the Da’anzhai shale (0.95%). The enrichment of organic matter in the two shales resulted from the comprehensive controls of paleoproductivity, paleoenvironment, and terrigenous input, but different factors have different effects. In addition, driven by climate, the change in the sulfate concentration in the bottom water further led to the different intensities of bacterial sulfate reduction in early diagenesis. This made a great difference regarding organic matter accumulation in the two members. In general, climate may have played a dominant role in organic matter enrichment in the two sets of shale.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The transmission properties of one-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) consisting of plasma and lossless dielectric have been systematically studied through the transfer matrix method. In this ...structure, plasma is used as a kind of single-negative (permittivity-negative) material. Because of the coupling between evanescent waves in plasma layers and propagation waves in dielectric layers, comb-like resonant peaks in transmission band are formed without adding any defect layer in plasma PCs. The numbers and positions of peaks can be modulated by the number of the periods, the plasma frequency, the thickness of plasma layers, plasma collision frequency, and the incident angle.
Electroplating is a common process of converting zinc ion in electrolyte as a micro level zinc layer on electroplating pieces. After electroplating, the remaining electrolyte on the surface of the ...pieces is washed with water, and accordingly, Zn-containing electroplating wastewater is generated. Hazardous Zn-containing wastewater is generated during the washing of electroplating pieces and plating tank. Herein, Zn was enriched from wastewater by commercial flocculant and then recycled as highly purified zinc phosphate via coupled acid extraction and hydrothermal treatment. Firstly, 98.4% Zn was recovered as sludge from wastewater by adding 0.2 g/L of flocculant. Then, the sludge was dissolved into an acid solution to produce a leachate with 31.2/10.8/19.3 g/L of Fe/Al/Zn and then hydrothermally treated to remove Fe/Al. The Fe removal rate was only 54.2% without phosphate and glucose but was increased to 98.6% after the addition of 0.5 g of glucose with Al/Zn loss < 2%. However, when 0.5 g of glucose and 15 g/L of phosphate were used, 99.8% Fe and 96.6% Al were synchronously removed as giniite with Zn loss < 2%. After Fe/Al separation, the remaining Zn was finally recycled as Zn phosphate particles with 98.1 wt% Zn3(PO4)2·2H2O. The added phosphate predominated the synergy removal of Fe/Al and especially lowered the Gibbs value of Al hydrolysis from 39.7 kJ/mol of boehmite to −5.96 kJ/mol of giniite, thereby reducing start-up temperature and reaction time. The proposed method showed practical application in the enrichment and recycling of valuable metals from wastewater.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Zn2+ is a heavy metal ion, and hazardous sludge from the electroplating and alloy industry is rich in Zn and impure Al and Ca. Such sludge is commonly recycled by dissolution in strong acid and then ...selective extraction to recycle Zn2+ by a special extraction reagent. In this process, impurity Al3+ is dissolved and then participates in the extraction of Zn2+, so Al3+ should be removed first. Here, a new strategy was reported for the effective removal of Al3+ and recovery of Zn2+ from a simulated Al/Zn-bearing sludge via an improved acid solution–precipitation route. The sludge was simulated by coagulating Zn-bearing waste water (290 mg/L Zn2+) with 600 mg/L polyaluminium chloride. The sludge was dissolved in sulphuric acid and nitric acid to form an acidic solution with Al3+ and Zn2+ concentrations of 3.2 g/L and 5.7 g/L, respectively. The solution was treated directly by hydrothermal method at 270 °C, in which 55% Al3+ was precipitated as boehmite and Al hydroxide. After the addition of 0.2 mL of ethylene glycol, the removal rate of Al3+ dramatically increased to 99.8%, with Zn2+ loss of 1.5%. The residual Zn2+ was 5620 mg/L in the treated solution and further directly precipitated by adjusting the pH of the solution to pH 7.5 with NaOH. The precipitated Zn2+ was in the form of simonkolleite with ZnO content of 63.1%, with Al content of only 0.8%. In the hydrothermal precipitation, the removal rate of Al3+ increased with the temperature and extension of reaction time. Al3+ was hydrolysed and precipitated as aluminium oxonium sulphate hydroxide and then recrystallised in boehmite form. Then, H+ was generated and consumed in the redox reaction of nitrate and ethylene glycol, accelerating the Al3+ precipitation. This method provides a way to efficiently separate Al3+ from a Zn-bearing solution and can be applied in the recycling of Al/Zn-bearing sludge.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Purpose. This study aimed to translate the English version of the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) into Chinese and to evaluate the initial validation of the Chinese version (C-ARAT) in patients with ...a first stroke. Methods. An expert group translated the original ARAT from English into Chinese using a forward-backward procedure. Forty-four patients (36 men and 8 women) aged 22–80 years with a first stroke were enrolled in this study. The participants were evaluated using 3 stroke-specific outcome measures: C-ARAT, the upper extremity section of the Fugl–Meyer assessment (UE-FMA), and the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT). Internal consistency was analysed using Cronbach’s α coefficients and item-scale correlations. Concurrent validity was determined using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients. Floor and ceiling effects were considered to be present when more than 20% of patients fell outside the preliminarily set lower or upper boundary, respectively. Results. The C-ARAT items yielded excellent internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s α of 0.98 (p < 0.001) and item-total correlations ranging from 0.727 to 0.948 (p < 0.001). The C-ARAT exhibited good-to-excellent correlations with the UE-FMA and WMFT functional ability (WMFT-FA) scores, with respective ρ values of 0.824 and 0.852 (p < 0.001), and an excellent negative correlation with the WMFT performance time (WMFT-time), with a ρ value of -0.940 (p < 0.001). The C-ARAT subscales generally exhibited good-to-excellent correlations with stroke-specific assessments, with ρ values ranging from 0.773 to 0.927 (p < 0.001). However, the gross subscale exhibited moderate-to-good correlations with the UE-FMA and WMFT-FA scores, with respective ρ values of 0.665 and 0.720 (p < 0.001). No significant floor effect was observed, and a significant ceiling effect was observed only on the WMFT-time. Conclusions. The C-ARAT demonstrated excellent internal consistency and good-to-excellent concurrent validity. This test could be used to evaluate upper extremity function in stroke patients without cognitive impairment.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
In this paper, we obtain analytical expressions for the co-propagation of two and four interacting astigmatic hyperbolic sinusoidal Gaussian beams in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media by using ...nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Through numerical simulations, we characterize their interaction properties and differences between the interaction of two beams and four beams, primarily focusing on the transverse intensity distribution of beam clusters and the evolution of intensity along the axis. We find that in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media, the evolution of multiple interacting astigmatic hyperbolic sinusoidal Gaussian beams is periodic. Regardless of whether the beams are in-phase or out-of-phase, the interaction among multiple beams is always attractive. The difference lies in the fact that in the case of complete in-phase beams, there are two small intensity peaks at the center of the interaction region, whereas this is not the case for other scenarios. Furthermore, among the four beams, the evolution of the in-phase interaction between vertically adjacent beams is exactly opposite to the out-of-phase interaction between horizontally adjacent beams. This research provides valuable insights for interaction of multiple beams and optical wireless communication.
•The analytical expression of AHSGB for interaction in SNNM is obtained.•The interaction properties are characterized.•The influence of different initial phases on transmission characteristics was analyzed.•The interaction characteristics are illustrated by numerical simulations.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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