•The LBM is used to study natural convection in a square enclosure.•Complicated porous/fluid interface treatment is avoided.•The curved boundary conditions are treated by immersed boundary ...method.•The effects of Rc, Ra and Da on the streamlines, isotherms and Nu are studied.
Numerical simulations are performed for natural convection in a square enclosure with a cylinder covered by a porous layer. The Darcy–Brinkmann–Forchheimer equation is adopted to describe the flow in both fluid and porous regions. To avoid the treatment of complicated interface conditions, the single domain approach based on lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to solve the unified governing equation. The curved velocity and thermal boundary conditions are treated by immersed boundary method (IBM). The effects of several physical parameters, including thermal conductivity ratio, Rayleigh number and Darcy number on flow and heat transfer characteristics are investigated. The numerical results indicate the addition of a porous layer can change the flow pattern and enhance the heat transfer.
To investigate the relationship between general and central obesity in the first trimester of pregnancy and gestational diabetes and its predicted value.
We recruited 813 women who registered at 6-12 ...weeks of gestation. Anthropometric measurements were done at the first antenatal visit. At 24-28 weeks of pregnancy, gestational diabetes was diagnosed using the 75 g oral glucose tolerance test. Binary logistic regression was used to determine odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The receiver-operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the ability of obesity indices to predict the risk of gestational diabetes.
Odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of gestational diabetes across increasing quartiles of waist-to-hip ratio were 1.00, 1.54 (0.65-3.66), 2.63 (1.18-5.85), and 4.96 (2.27-10.85), respectively (p < .001), while those for waist-to-height ratio were 1.00, 1.21 (0.47-3.08), 2.99 (1.26-7.10), and 4.01 (1.57-10.19), respectively (p < .001). Areas under the curve for general and central obesity were similar. However, the area under the curve of body mass index combined with the waist-to-hip ratio was the biggest.
Higher waist-to-hip ratio and waist-to-height ratio in the first trimester of pregnancy are associated with increased risks of gestational diabetes in Chinese women. The combination of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio in the first trimester of pregnancy is a good predictor for gestational diabetes.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused unprecedented loss of life and economic trouble all over the world, though the ...mechanism of its replication remains poorly understood. In this study, antibodies were generated and used to systematically determine the expression profile and subcellular distribution of 11 SARS-CoV-2 nonstructural replicase proteins (nsp1, nsp2, nsp3, nsp5, nsp7, nsp8, nsp9, nsp10, nsp13, nsp14, and nsp15) by Western blot and immunofluorescence assay. Nsp3, nsp5, and nsp8 were detected in perinuclear foci at different time points, with diffusion and stronger fluorescence observed over time. In particular, colocalization of nsp8 and nsp13 with different replicase proteins suggested viral protein-protein interaction, which may be key to understanding their functions and potential molecular mechanisms. Viral intermediate dsRNA was detected in perinuclear foci as early as 2-h postinfection, indicating the initiation of virus replication. With the passage of time, these perinuclear dsRNA foci became larger and brighter, and nearly all colocalized with N protein, consistent with viral growth over time. Thus, the development of these anti-nsp antibodies provides basic tools for the further study of replication and diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. IMPORTANCE The intracellular localization of SARS-CoV-2 replicase nonstructural proteins (nsp) during infection has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we systematically analyzed the expression and subcellular localization of 11 distinct viral nsp and dsRNA over time in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells by using individual antibody against these replicase proteins. The data indicated that nsp gene expression is highly regulated in space and time, which could be useful to understand the function of viral replicases and future development of diagnostics and potential antiviral strategies against SARS-CoV-2.
The Day Center, Case Management, and Home Care components of a local senior health agency each have used different screening forms for assessing their clients for fall risk. A common instrument, ...easily administered by all components as part of their routine practice, would be helpful in systematically identifying elders at risk of falling. Developing a common screening instrument would be useful at other senior health agencies as well.
To gather information on the content and features that are most useful for fall screening, based on the needs of individual geriatric care workers in each component of a local senior health agency.
A semistructured interview was used to gather feedback from geriatric care workers on what was needed for universal fall risk screening.
Two major themes emerged: (1) factors that are relevant in assessing fall risk and (2) factors that affect the utility of the fall risk screening procedure. Under theme 1, there were 6 categories: fall history, physical function, impairments, medications, mental and psychological status, and home environment. Under theme 2, there were 3 categories: methods of gathering information for fall risk assessment, features useful to a fall risk assessment form, and actions taken in response to fall risk assessment. The 6 fall risk categories identified in the interviews were combined with 2 other categories identified in the literature, health status and fear of falling, to produce a universal form for use by different agency components.
Integrating all fall-risk categories into a universal form improves the completeness of the form used in different agency components. However, to increase the utility of fall risk screening, service plans integrated with each screening procedure need to be developed according to specific agency structures. A 3-step procedure is proposed to improve the effectiveness of fall-risk screening: (1) initial screening with an outreach worker using a quick question assessment; (2) follow-up with a more comprehensive fall risk assessment while receiving services from the Day Center, Case Management, or Home Care; and (3) a "what-to-do" action is presented for each item on the basis of each question's response on the comprehensive form.
When designing a fall risk screening procedure, integrating all fall-risk factors into a single comprehensive form may not be the ideal strategy. The environment, the person who gathers the information, and the actions required to respond to information gathered should also be considered. On the basis of the results of this qualitative study, we have presented a 3-step procedure, with supporting forms to address these considerations.
In this paper, a regularized diffuse domain-lattice Boltzmann model for heat transfer with the Dirichlet boundary condition in complex geometries is proposed. In this model the complex computational ...domain is embedded into a larger and regular domain. The level set function is used to capture the complex interface. A diffuse domain formulation for the temperature field is established on the larger domain. To remove the ill-conditioned property of the original diffuse domain equation, we develop a new regularization technique to tackle this issue. We also give a multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model to solve the regularized diffuse domain equation. The convergence rate of present model is investigated by the steady state and time-decay heat conduction problems. Then the natural convection problems in a square enclosure with a heated circular cylinder and in a horizontal concentric annulus are simulated. Both the uniform and non-uniform wall temperature cases are considered. Moreover, an alternative method to calculate the average Nusselt number on the complex boundary is employed. The numerical results show a good agreement with the previous solutions in previous literatures. The effect of non-uniform wall temperature on the heat transfer rate is also investigated. At last, the forced convection across the staggered tube banks is also simulated to verify the potential capability of the present model in solving practical heat transfer problem with the complex geometries.
•We give a simple method to regularize the original diffuse domain equation to remove the ill-conditioned property.•We present a lattice Boltzmann model to solve the regularized diffuse domain equation.•An alternative method to calculate the average Nusselt number on the complex boundary is employed.•Both the uniform and non-uniform wall temperature cases are considered.
Abstract
Suicidal behavior is a major concern for patients who suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD). However, dynamic alterations and dysfunction of resting-state networks (RSNs) in MDD ...patients with suicidality have remained unclear. Thus, we investigated whether subjects with different severity of suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior may have different disturbances in brain RSNs and whether these changes could be used as the diagnostic biomarkers to discriminate MDD with or without suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior. Then a multicenter, cross-sectional study of 528 MDD patients with or without suicidality and 998 healthy controls was performed. We defined the probability of dying by the suicide of the suicidality components as a ‘suicidality gradient’. We constructed ten RSNs, including default mode (DMN), subcortical (SUB), ventral attention (VAN), and visual network (VIS). The network connections of RSNs were analyzed among MDD patients with different suicidality gradients and healthy controls using ANCOVA, chi-squared tests, and network-based statistical analysis. And support vector machine (SVM) model was designed to distinguish patients with mild-to-severe suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior. We found the following abnormalities with increasing suicidality gradient in MDD patients: within-network connectivity values initially increased and then decreased, and one-versus-other network values decreased first and then increased. Besides, within- and between-network connectivity values of the various suicidality gradients are mainly negatively correlated with HAMD anxiety and positively correlated with weight. We found that VIS and DMN-VIS values were affected by age (
p
< 0.05), cingulo-opercular network, and SUB-VAN values were statistically influenced by sex (
p
< 0.05). Furthermore, the SVM model could distinguish MDD patients with different suicidality gradients (AUC range, 0.73–0.99). In conclusion, we have identified that disrupted brain connections were present in MDD patients with different suicidality gradient. These findings provided useful information about the pathophysiological mechanisms of MDD patients with suicidality.
Liuwei Dihuang pill (LDP) was assessed for its effects on renal deficiency.90 STZ induced DN rats were divided into groups (n = 22) without treatment (STZ) and LDP treated (STZ-L) (n = 23), Zhenwu ...decoction treated (STZ-Z) (n = 22), and valsartan treated (STZ-V) (n = 23) groups, with 16 normal control rats. Total urine protein (TP), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum creatinine (Cr) were measured. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations as well as expression/phosphorylation of SMAD3, SMAD2, and α-SMA, TGF-β, RI /II, P38, ERK, and NF-kB in renal tissues were determined. In vitro experiments analyzed the effect of enhanced TGF-β containing rat serums of the STZ groups on mesangial cells with and without transient transfection with a cytoglobin-containing plasmid.LDP treatment reduced the kidney coefficient, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, and urine protein and prevented pathological changes. Expression of SOD and NOS in kidney tissue was increased but MDA expression reduced. LDP modulated multiple pathways, and its administration inhibited the phosphorylation of SMADS, ERK, p38, and the expression of NF-kB, α-SMA, and TGF-β RI/II, and upregulated the expression of cytoglobin. In vitro studies revealed that overexpression of cytoglobin suppressed phosphorylation of Smad2, ERK, and p38 induced by TGF-β and expression of NF-kB, α-SMA, and TGF-β RI.LDP prevented renal fibrosis and protected glomerular mesangial cells by upregulation of cytoglobin and suppression of multiple pathways involving TGF-β/SMADS, MAPK, NF-kB signaling.
BACKGROUND: Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) enable laypeople to provide early defibrillations to patients undergoing cardiac arrest, but scant information is available on the general ...public's ability to use AEDs. This study assessed the ability of laypeople to operate AEDs, the effect of a 15-minute training, and whether skills differed by age. METHODS: From May 1 to December 31, 2018, a prospective simulation study was conducted with 94 laypeople aged 18-65 years (32 aged 18-24 years, 34 aged 25-54 years, and 28 aged 55-65 years) with no prior AED training. The participants' AED skills were assessed individually pre-training, post-training, and at a three-month follow-up using a simulated cardiac arrest scenario. The critical actions and time intervals were evaluated during the AED operating process. RESULTS: Only 14 (14.9%) participants (eight aged 18-24 years, four aged 25-54 years, and two aged 55-65 years) successfully delivered defibrillations before training. AED operation errors were more likely to occur among the participants aged 55-65 years than among other age groups. After training, the proportion of successful defibrillations increased significantly (18-24 years old: 25.0% vs. 71.9%, P<0.01; 25-54 years old: 11.8% vs. 70.6%, P<0.01; 55-65 years old: 7.1% vs. 67.9%, P<0.01). After three months, 26.1% of the participants aged 55-65 years successfully delivered defibrillations, which was significantly lower than that of participants aged 18-24 years (54.8%) and 25-54 years (64.3%) (P=0.02). There were no differences in time measures among three age groups in each test. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of untrained laypeople cannot effectively operate AEDs. More frequent training and refresher courses are crucial to improve AED skills. KEYWORDS: Automated external defibrillator; Cardiac arrest; General public; Training; Simulation
Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. (Lamiaceae), which is named ‘Guang-Huo-Xiang’ in Chinese, has various therapeutic functions to remove dampness, relieve summer-heat and exterior syndrome, stop ...vomiting, and stimulate appetite. Patchouli oil is the essential oil of Pogostemonis herba. This study is aimed to investigate the antinociceptive and anti-allergy activities of patchouli oil. The antinociceptive activity of patchouli oil (20, 40, and 80 mg/kg) was evaluated using the acetic acid-induced writhing test (NIH mice) and the hot-plate test (NIH mice), and those for anti-allergy activity were tested using Schultz–Dale reaction, the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) test, and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) test. All doses of patchouli oil could significantly (p <0.05) extend writhing latent period and moderately decrease writhing frequency. In the hot-plate test, patchouli oil treatment significantly (p <0.01) increased the latency period at all three doses at 30, 60, and 90-minute time intervals compared with the control group. Patchouli oil could remarkably (p <0.01) inhibit the contraction induced by the Schultz–Dale reaction. Moreover, patchouli oil at all doses significantly (p <0.01) inhibited the PCA reaction induced by Sprague–Dawley rat anti-ovalbumin serum and the DTH reaction induced by the 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene when comparing with those of the control group. The findings suggested that patchouli oil may provide additional evidence for its potential uses as antinociceptive and anti-allergy agents.
PDF
