Abstract Objectives Many studies have shown that insomnia is a common problem among university students, but there are wide variations in the prevalence of insomnia. In this systematic review, we ...aimed to explore the prevalence of insomnia among university students using scientific and conclusive methods. Study design A systematic review is designed to analyze the studies reporting on prevalence of insomnia among university students. Methods Systemic searches were conducted in PubMed, BioMed Central, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, Ovid LWW and Medline databases between January 2000 and July 2014, The Meta analyst software was used to calculate the prevalence rate of each study, the pooled means of prevalence rates and 95% CIs across studies were then calculated and presented. Results Seven articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected. The overall sample size in the current review was 16,478, with a minimum of 219 and a maximum of 10,322. The prevalence rates of the seven studies ranged between 9.4% (95%CI 8.8–10.0%) and 38.2% (95% CI 35.4–41.1%). Overall, the total students studied with a weighted mean prevalence of 18.5% (95% CI 11.2–28.8%), considerably higher than rates of 7.4% (95% CI 5.8–9.0%) reported in general population. Conclusions This review emphasized that insomnia prevalence in university students is considerably higher than that in general population, suggested that more attention should be paid to insomnia in university students.
Summary
Background
Tinea capitis is still common in developing countries, such as China. Its pathogen spectrum varies across regions and changes over time.
Objectives
This study aimed to clarify the ...current epidemiological characteristics and pathogen spectrum of tinea capitis in China.
Methods
A multicentre, prospective descriptive study involving 29 tertiary hospitals in China was conducted. From August 2019 to July 2020, 611 patients with tinea capitis were enrolled. Data concerning demography, risk factors and fungal tests were collected. When necessary, the pathogens were further identified by morphology or molecular sequencing in the central laboratory.
Results
Among all enrolled patients, 74·1% of the cases were in patients aged 2–8 years. The children with tinea capitis were mainly boys (56·2%) and were more likely than adults to have a history of animal contact (57·4% vs. 35·3%, P = 0·012) and zoophilic dermatophyte infection (73·5% vs. 47%). The adults were mainly female (83%) and were more likely than children to have anthropophilic agent infection (53% vs. 23·9%). The most common pathogen was zoophilic Microsporum canis (354, 65·2%), followed by anthropophilic Trichophyton violaceum (74, 13·6%). In contrast to the eastern, western and northeastern regions, where zoophilic M. canis predominated, anthropophilic T. violaceum predominated in central China (69%, P < 0·001), where the patients had the most tinea at other sites (20%) and dermatophytosis contact (26%) but the least animal contact (39%). Microsporum ferrugineum was the most common anthropophilic agent in the western area, especially in Xinjiang province.
Conclusions
Boys aged approximately 5 years were the most commonly affected group. Dermatologists are advised to pay more attention to the different transmission routes and pathogen spectra in different age groups from different regions.
What is already known about this topic?
Tinea capitis is an infection of the scalp and hair caused by dermatophytes and is still common in developing countries. Prepubertal children are mainly affected.
The pathogen spectrum of tinea capitis varies across different geographical areas and changes over time.
Nationwide prospective epidemiological surveys of tinea capitis in China are rare and out of date.
What does this study add?
This study provides data concerning the epidemiological characteristics and pathogen spectrum of tinea capitis in contemporary China.
Boys aged approximately 5 years were most commonly affected and were more likely than adults to have zoophilic dermatophyte infection.
The main pathogens of tinea capitis in China are zoophilic dermatophytes, mainly Microsporum canis. In contrast to the other regions, the predominant pathogens in central China are anthropophilic dermatophytes.
Plain language summary available online
Many neutron star properties, such as the proton fraction, reflect the symmetry energy contributions to the equation of state that dominate when neutron and proton densities differ strongly. To ...constrain these contributions at suprasaturation densities, we measure the spectra of charged pions produced by colliding rare isotope tin (Sn) beams with isotopically enriched Sn targets. Using ratios of the charged pion spectra measured at high transverse momenta, we deduce the slope of the symmetry energy to be 42<L<117 MeV. This value is slightly lower but consistent with the L values deduced from a recent measurement of the neutron skin thickness of ^{208}Pb.
We found a novel marine drug, SZ-685C, that was isolated from the secondary metabolites of a mangrove endophytic fungus (No. 1403) collected from the South China Sea, which has been reported to ...inhibit the proliferation of certain tumor cells. However, its anticancer mechanism remains unknown. The aims of this study were to observe the effectiveness of SZ-685C on pituitary adenoma cells and determine the underlying mechanisms of action.
A rat prolactinoma cell line, MMQ, was used in this study. A dose escalation of SZ-685C was performed on this cell line, and cell viability was assessed using an MTT assay. Hoechst 33342, Annexin V-FITC/PI, TUNEL staining and flow cytometry were used to evaluate the extent of apoptosis at each concentration of SZ-685C. The effect of SZ-685C on prolactin expression was also evaluated using RT-PCR and immunoblotting. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-200c in SZ-685C-stimulated MMQ cells and pituitary adenoma tissues. This miRNA was then overexpressed in MMQ cells via transfection of a miR-200c mimic to identify the mechanism underling the anti-tumor effect of SZ-685C.
SZ-685C inhibited MMQ cell growth in a dose-dependent manner but showed little toxicity toward rat pituitary cells (RPCs). The IC50s of SZ-685C in MMQ cells and RPCs were 13.2 ± 1.3 mM and 49.1 ± 11.5 mM, respectively, which was statistically significant. Increasing numbers of apoptotic cells were observed in response to escalating concentrations of SZ-685C, and the expression level of prolactin (PRL) was inhibited. Nevertheless, the level of PRL mRNA was unchanged. Additionally, miR-200c was upregulated in MMQ cells compared with RPCs, and downregulation of miR- 200c was observed in SZ-685C-treated MMQ cells. Furthermore, the overexpression of miR-200c weakened the effect of SZ-685C-induced apoptosis of MMQ cells.
Our results suggest that SZ-685C induces MMQ cell apoptosis in a miR-200c-dependent manner. Therefore, SZ-685C might be a useful alternative treatment for pituitary adenoma.
Dapsone is used in the treatment of infections and inflammatory diseases. The dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome, which is associated with a reported mortality of 9.9%, develops in about 0.5 to 3.6% ...of persons treated with the drug. Currently, no tests are available to predict the risk of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome.
We performed a genomewide association study involving 872 participants who had received dapsone as part of multidrug therapy for leprosy (39 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 833 controls), using log-additive tests of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and imputed HLA molecules. For a replication analysis, we genotyped 24 SNPs in an additional 31 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 1089 controls and performed next-generation sequencing for HLA-B and HLA-C typing at four-digit resolution in an independent series of 37 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 201 controls.
Genomewide association analysis showed that SNP rs2844573, located between the HLA-B and MICA loci, was significantly associated with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome among patients with leprosy (odds ratio, 6.18; P=3.84×10(-13)). HLA-B*13:01 was confirmed to be a risk factor for the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome (odds ratio, 20.53; P=6.84×10(-25)). The presence of HLA-B*13:01 had a sensitivity of 85.5% and a specificity of 85.7% as a predictor of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome, and its absence was associated with a reduction in risk by a factor of 7 (from 1.4% to 0.2%). HLA-B*13:01 is present in about 2 to 20% of Chinese persons, 1.5% of Japanese persons, 1 to 12% of Indians, and 2 to 4% of Southeast Asians but is largely absent in Europeans and Africans.
HLA-B*13:01 was associated with the development of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome among patients with leprosy. (Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and others.).
Pain is a subjective first-person experience, and self-report is the gold standard for pain assessment in clinical practice. However, self-report of pain is not available in some vulnerable ...populations (e.g., patients with disorders of consciousness), which leads to an inadequate or suboptimal treatment of pain. Therefore, the availability of a physiology-based and objective assessment of pain that complements the self-report would be of great importance in various applications. Here, we aimed to develop a novel and practice-oriented approach to predict pain perception from single-trial laser-evoked potentials (LEPs). We applied a novel single-trial analysis approach that combined common spatial pattern and multiple linear regression to automatically and reliably estimate single-trial LEP features. Further, we adopted a Naïve Bayes classifier to discretely predict low and high pain and a multiple linear prediction model to continuously predict the intensity of pain perception from single-trial LEP features, at both within- and cross-individual levels. Our results showed that the proposed approach provided a binary prediction of pain (classification of low pain and high pain) with an accuracy of 86.3±8.4% (within-individual) and 80.3±8.5% (cross-individual), and a continuous prediction of pain (regression on a continuous scale from 0 to 10) with a mean absolute error of 1.031±0.136 (within-individual) and 1.821±0.202 (cross-individual). Thus, the proposed approach may help establish a fast and reliable tool for automated prediction of pain, which could be potentially adopted in various basic and clinical applications.
•We proposed a novel and practice-oriented way to predict pain from single-trial LEPs.•Single-trial LEP features were rapidly and reliably estimated using CSP and MLR.•Naïve Bayes classifier discretely predicted low and high pain accurately.•Linear prediction model continuously predicted the intensity of pain reliably.
Event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) of electrocortical signals (e.g., electroencephalogram EEG and magnetoencephalogram) reflect important aspects of sensory, motor, and ...cognitive cortical processing. The detection of ERD and ERS relies on time–frequency decomposition of single-trial electrocortical signals, to identify significant stimulus-induced changes in power within specific frequency bands. Typically, these changes are quantified by expressing post-stimulus EEG power as a percentage of change relative to pre-stimulus EEG power. However, expressing post-stimulus EEG power relative to pre-stimulus EEG power entails two important and surprisingly neglected issues. First, it can introduce a significant bias in the estimation of ERD/ERS magnitude. Second, it confuses the contribution of pre- and post-stimulus EEG power. Taking the human electrocortical responses elicited by transient nociceptive stimuli as an example, we demonstrate that expressing ERD/ERS as the average percentage of change calculated at single-trial level introduces a positive bias, resulting in an overestimation of ERS and an underestimation of ERD. This bias can be avoided using a single-trial baseline subtraction approach. Furthermore, given that the variability in ERD/ERS is not only dependent on the variability in post-stimulus power but also on the variability in pre-stimulus power, an estimation of the respective contribution of pre- and post-stimulus EEG variability is needed. This can be achieved using a multivariate linear regression (MVLR) model, which could be optimally estimated using partial least square (PLS) regression, to dissect and quantify the relationship between behavioral variables and pre- and post-stimulus EEG activities. In summary, combining single-trial baseline subtraction approach with PLS regression can be used to achieve a correct detection and quantification of ERD/ERS.
•Percentage baseline correction leads to an ERD underestimation and ERS overestimation.•Subtraction baseline correction does not introduce any bias in ERD/ERS estimation.•Pre-stimulus α-power varies from trial to trial, following a hyperbolic function.•ERD/ERS variability is influenced by the variability of pre-stimulus EEG power.•MVLR+PLS dissects the contribution of pre-/post-stimulus EEG on behavioral variables.
Knowledge on the changes in yield potential and associated physiological traits is essential for understanding the main yield-limiting factors and guiding future breeding strategies. Our objective ...was to identify physiological traits associated with genetic gains in grain yield of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Shandong province, China. Thirteen milestone cultivars and two advanced lines released from 1969 to 2006 were examined over 3 yr at Tai'an during 2006 to 2009. The genetic gain in grain yield was 62 kg ha−1 yr−1, largely associated with increased kernels per square meter, biomass, and harvest index (HI) and reduced plant height. Significant genetic changes were also observed especially for apparent leaf area index (LAI) at heading and anthesis, chlorophyll content (Chl) at anthesis, photosynthesis rate during grain filling, and stem water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content at anthesis. Comparing genotypes having Rht-D1b and others with both Rht-D1b and Rht8c (Rht-D1b+Rht8c) showed increased grain yield, thousand kernel weight, kernels per spike, kernel weight per spike, HI, canopy temperature depression, and Chl at anthesis and LAI at heading with the latter but no difference in height. The results suggested that genetic gains in grain yield in Shandong province were mainly contributed by increases in kernels per square meter and biomass, which were achieved through improving crop photosynthesis at and after heading, and the source for grain filling may have benefited from increased WSC in stems at anthesis.
Abstract
Based on the database monitored by the 1.26 m National Astronomical Observatory–Guangzhou University Infrared/Optical Telescope, we studied the optical variabilities of FSRQ 3C454.3. The ...monitoring period was from 2016 October 17 to 2018 December 14, and there were 6701 observations covering the
g
,
r,
and
i
bands (2196 at the
g
band, 2214 at the
r
band, and 2291 at the
i
band). (1) The maximum variabilities were Δ
m
g
= 2.806 ± 0.124 mag at the
g
band; Δ
m
r
= 2.365 ± 0.160 mag at the
r
band; and Δ
m
i
= 3.126 ± 0.070 mag at the
i
band. (2) Among the
gri
intraday lightcurves, there are 172 portions of the data sets showing intraday variability (IDV). The distributions of IDV timescales (Δ
T
) can be profiled by a three-order Gaussian function, with the center values Δ
T
1
= 17.18 minutes, Δ
T
2
= 34.91 minutes, and Δ
T
3
= 68.92 minutes. These results imply that the origin of IDVs is very complicated. (3) Based on the IDV timescales, we obtained the emission size
R
≤ 7.17 × 10
15
cm, fixed the broad-line region and modeled the spectral energy distributions. (4) We used the Jurkevich method, red-noise fitting, and the weighted wavelet Z-transform to analyze the long-term variabilities and obtained indications of a possible period of
P
= 2.92 ± 0.85 yr, and used the binary black hole system to explain this period. Based on the long-term period, we can estimate the time until merger of the binary black hole,
t
merge
= 6.69 × 10
3
yr, and the luminosity of gravitational waves,
L
G
= 1.56 × 10
48
erg s
−1
.
ABSTRACT There is evidence that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) originate from the core collapse of massive stars. When a jet punctures through the progenitor envelope, high-energy neutrinos ...can be produced by the reverse shock formed at the jet head. It is suggested that low-luminosity GRBs are possible candidates of this high-energy neutrino precursor up to scales. Before leaving the progenitor, these high-energy neutrinos must oscillate from one flavor to another with the matter effect in the envelope. Under the assumption of a power-law stellar envelope density profile with an index , we study the properties of TeV-PeV neutrino oscillation. We find that adiabatic conversion is violated for these neutrinos so we calibrate the level crossing effect. The resonance condition is reached for different energies at different radii. We note that the effective mixing angles in matter for neutrinos are close to zero, so the transition probabilities from one flavor to another are almost invariant for neutrinos. We plot all the transition probabilities versus the energy of TeV-PeV neutrinos from the birth place to the surface of the progenitor. With an initial flavor ratio , we plot how the flavor ratio evolves with energy and distance when neutrinos are still in the envelope, and we find the ratio when they reach the Earth. For neutrinos, the ratio is always on Earth. In addition, we discuss the dependence of the flavor ratio on energy and and find a good result. This dependence may provide a promising probe of the progenitor structure.
PDF
