Segmentation of Bacteria Image Based on Level Set Method

In biology ferment engineering, accurate statistics of the quantity of bacteria is one of the most important subjects. In this paper, the quantity of bacteria which was observed traditionally manuauy can be detected automatically. Image acquisition and processing system is designed to accomplish image preprocessing, image segmentation and statistics of the quantity of bacteria. Segmentation of bacteria images is successfully realized by means of a region-based level set method and then the quantity of bacteria is computed precisely, which plays an important role in optimizing the growth conditions of bacteria.     

Changes in somatotrophic and lactotrophic functions of the adenohypophysis in rats with acute alloxan diabetes

By electrophoresis followed by colorimetric study of the stained gels an increased content of growth hormone and prolactin was found in the pituitary of rats during the development of alloxan diabetes. The STH and prolactin levels 4–5 days after injection of alloxan were higher by 45–58 and 38–43% respectively than in intact animals. Experiments on primary cell cultures using [¹⁴C]-L-leucine as labeled precursor revealed increased secretory activity of the somatotrophs and lactotrophs of rats with alloxan diabetes.Laboratory of Biological Standardization of Hormones, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Hormone Chemistry, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR N. A. Yudaev.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 88, No. 11, pp. 536–538, November, 1979.     

Self-reported comfort in athletic training of gender-specific and non-gender-specific injuries and issues

Context: To assist athletes in maintaining optimal health, athletic trainers must work with athletes of both sexes.Objective: To examine athletic trainers'' comfort levels in providing care for gender-specific and non-gender-specific injuries and issues.Design: We mailed 235 Gender Comfort in Athletic Training Questionnaires to program directors, who were asked to distribute and collect them.Setting: We randomly selected 21 athletic training education program directors and invited them by e-mail to participate in the study. Fourteen program directors representing the 10 National Athletic Trainers'' Association districts agreed to participate.Patients or Other Participants: A total of 192 participants returned completed questionnaires, for a response rate of 82% (103 women, 89 men; 101 senior athletic training students, 91 certified athletic trainers).Main Outcome Measure(s): The questionnaire consisted of 17 injuries and issues common to both female and male athlete scenarios. Three gender-specific items were added to each scenario. Responses were scored on a 5-point scale anchored by 1 (very uncomfortable) and 5 (very comfortable). Participants were asked to indicate the reason for any degree of discomfort. Internal consistency, determined by the Cronbach alpha, was .92 for the female athlete scenario and .93 for the male athlete scenario.Results: We found significant differences between women and men certified athletic trainers for the female and male athlete scenarios. Overall, women were more comfortable caring for female injuries and issues, whereas men were more comfortable caring for male injuries and issues. Certified athletic trainers reported more comfort overall than athletic training students. The most common underlying reason reported for discomfort in caring for female and male injuries and issues was experience level.Conclusions: Athletic training education programs should provide early and more deliberate experiences with injuries and issues of a more intimate nature, including those that are gender specific and non-gender specific. These experiences may increase athletic trainers'' level of comfort in providing care to athletes of the opposite sex.     

Serum digoxin concentrations in a representative digoxin — Consuming adult population

Summary As part of health examination of a representative sample of an adult population (n=8000) serum digoxin concentration was measured in 661 patients on continuous digoxin therapy. The prescribed mean daily dose of digoxin was significantly higher in men (223 µg) than in women (201 µg); the dose significantly decreased with increasing age. The mean serum digoxin concentration was the same in men and women and it differed insignificantly between age groups, although older persons tended to have a higher concentration. The age — adjusted mean steady state digoxin concentration was 1.02 ng/ml in men and 0.98 ng/ml in women; in about 60% the concentration was within the therapeutic range (0.80–2.00 ng/ml). The concentrations were clearly related to daily dose of digoxin. At equal dose levels old persons tended to have higher concentrations than younger persons. The interindividual variation in serum digoxin concentrations was very wide. However, when digoxin measurements in the same subjects were repeated about three months later, a good correlation between the two measurements was found. The interval between the last dose of digoxin and the collection of blood (up to 41 h) had relatively little effect on individual serum digoxin concentrations. Patients on concomitant thiazide or loop diuretic therapy had the same mean serum digoxin concentration as those not-receiving a diuretic. The mean concentration was significantly higher in patients taking a thiazide or loop diuretic combined with triamterene. The difference may have been due to an interaction between triamterene and digoxin.     

Effects of different speeds of induction with sevoflurane on the EEG in Man

The effects of two kinds of induction speed of sevoflurane anesthesia on the EEG pattern were compared in the same individual using medical student volunteers: a first exposure of 4% was given, followed after full recovery, by incremental doses of 1, 2 and 4% successively, each being administered for 10min. The arterial blood level of the anesthetic was measured using gaschromatograph. The changes of EEG pattern during fast induction with 4% were not represented by the abbreviation of those observed during the slow induction with the incremental doses. The administration of 4% induced a sudden appearance of high voltage, rhythmic slow waves of 2–3Hz at 1–3min when the arterial blood anesthetic level increased maximally, which was then followed by a pattern of faster activities of 10–14Hz mixed with 5–8Hz slow waves. In contrast, the administration of incremental doses induced an increase in frequency and amplitude of EEG activities in the light plane, followed by their decreases in deeper planes. The final EEG patterns were identical for both these methods of induction. These findings confirmed our previous hypothesis that not only the arterial blood level of anesthetics but the rate of its increase are important factors determining the EEG pattern of anesthesia.(Avramov MN et al.: Effects of different speeds of induction with sevoflurane on the EEG in man. J Anesth 1: 1–7, 1987)     

Long-term periodontal status of labially erupted canines following orthodontic treatment

Periodontal status was studied at the mesiobuccal, midbuccal and distobuccal aspects of contralateral pairs of canines in 22 postorthodontic patients aged 30 to 51 years with a mean time of 26.4 years (SD, 5.6) out of active treatment. The pretreatment models showed one canine erupting severely to the labial ("ectopic") with a contralateral canine in good arch alignment (control). None of the patients experienced relapse of the "ectopic" canine in a labial direction, and none had missing teeth, malalignment, overhanging restorations or open tooth contacts adjacent to the canines evaluated. Periodontal parameters were examined using a Michigan #0 probe with Williams markings. A nonstandardized light force was used and the measurements were rounded to the nearest millimeter. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences between the canines in probing attachment and bone levels (mean, 0.75; SD, 0.92; P less than 0.01) and width of attached gingiva (mean, 0.50; SD, 1.07; p less than 0.05) at the midbuccal aspects. The reason for these differences could only be speculated upon.     

Prolactin concentration in plasma and susceptibility to mammary tumors in female rats from different strains treated chronically with estradiol-17β

Summary Prolactin is associated with the development of mammary tumors in rats. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether strain differences in susceptibility to the development of mammary tumors could be explained by genetic differences in the response of the pituitary to chronic stimulation by estrogens. Prolactin levels were measured in plasma from rats of the Sprague-Dawley, Wistar WAG/Rij and Brown Norway BN/BiRij strains before and at different times after subcutaneous implantation of estradiol-17 in cholesterol/paraffin pellets. In all strains plasma prolactin was elevated from the second week after implantation of the pellet, although there were quantitative differences between the responses. At 32 weeks after implantation of the pellets the plasma level of prolactin in Sprague-Dawley rats was 1247 ± 367 ng NIAMDD prolactin RP-1/ml (mean ± S.E.M), whereas Wistar WAG/Rij and Brown Norway BN/BiRij had plasma prolactin levels of 679 ± 211 and 182 ± 19 ng/ml respectively. Between 52 and 104 weeks after implantation these values rose to 4016 ± 1116, 5004 ± 1053 and 808 ± 129 ng/ml respectively. The plasma concentration of prolactin of rats in this age group was strongly associated with the occurrence of pituitary adenomas in all three strains. In untreated rats, the concentration of prolactin in the plasma increased with age to only 200–400 ng/ml at 12–24 months of age but no significant differences were observed between the three rat strains. It is concluded that observed differences in spontaneous and estrogen-mediated mammary tumor development in these rat strains cannot be explained by genetic differences in the plasma concentration of prolactin. The development of malignant mammary tumors after estrogen treatment appears to be associated with the extent of the increase in plasma prolactin induced by the estrogen.     

基于双重差分法视角评估按病种分值付费对心血管病种患者的影响

目的 分析按病种分值付费政策对心血管病种患者实施效果并提供相关建议。方法 以广东省某大型三甲综合医院DIP政策实施前后收治的64 970份心血管病种患者为研究样本,通过描述性统计和双重差分法,分析两种不同医保支付方式(广州医保、其他医保)对相关医疗指标的影响。结果 按病种分值付费政策实施后,广州医保患者人均住院费用从49 060.62元下降到46 984.24元(t=-6.924,P＜0.001),自负金额减少2 104.67元(t=-10.654,P＜0.001),住院天数下降0.40天(t=-8.824,P＜0.001),三个指标的差异均具有统计学意义,而其他医保支付方式患者的这三个指标在两个时期的差异无统计学意义。在费用结构中有明显变化幅度的分别是综合医疗服务费(t=53.403,P＜0.001)、诊断费(t=50.198,P＜0.001)、治疗费(t=22.804,P＜0.001)、西药费(t=-12.488,P＜0.001)、血浆和血浆制品费(t=-7.93,P＜0.001)、耗材费(t=-17.901,P＜0.001)以及其他费用(t=-115.076,P＜0.001),差异均具有统计学意义,变化幅度最大的是耗材费,同比减少5.53%。以“风险级别”为分层标准对人均住院费用和住院天数进行双重差分法分层分析,政策效果仅发生在人均住院天数中“中低风险级别”和“没有出现死亡病例”两组病例。结论 按病种分值付费改革有利于增强医院自主管理意识,减轻参保人员个人负担水平,优化费用结构,但仍需加强控制重点费用类别,并未能充分体现医疗服务价值和达到促进分级诊疗目的,需提高支付标准的科学性和精准性。     

1990—2019年中国高血清低密度脂蛋白胆固醇疾病负担趋势分析与预测

目的 描述和分析1990—2019年中国高血清低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（high LDL cholesterol,高LDL - C）疾病负担状况及变化趋势,并预测未来5年的疾病负担,为中国高LDL - C科学防控提供依据。方法 提取2019年全球疾病负担（GBD 2019）中因高LDL - C造成的死亡数、死亡率及DALYs等疾病负担指标,相关指标均采用GBD 2019全球标准人口进行年龄标准化,采用平均年度变化百分比（AAPC）分析率的变化趋势,并应用R 4.1.0对1990—2016年中国因高LDL - C造成的死亡率和DALYs率建立ARIMA模型和NNAR模型,用2017—2019年的数据来评价两模型的拟合效果,最后用拟合效果最好的模型预测2020—2024年中国高LDL - C死亡率和DALYs率。结果 1990—2019年中国高LDL - C造成的死亡率（AAPC = 3.1%,P＜0.05）和DALYs率（AAPC = 2.2%,P＜0.05）整体呈波动上升趋势;标化死亡率和DALYs率增长14.21%和0.56%,男女性别比范围分别为1.33～1.67和1.36～1.76,男性高于女性;年龄别疾病负担≥70岁人群远高于15～49岁和50～69岁群体;ARIMA（0,2,0）和NNAR（1,1）模型预测与实际趋势基本一致,前者预测值与实际值相对误差、均方根误差（RMSE）、平均绝对误差（MAE）以及平均绝对百分误差（MAPE）均较小,预测精度更好。 结论 中国高LDL - C造成的疾病负担呈逐渐上升趋势,在2020—2024年将继续上升。男性、高龄人群疾病负担更加沉重,应采取针对性措施进行干预。     

康妇炎胶囊联合米非司酮对输卵管异位妊娠患者疗效分析

目的 探讨康妇炎胶囊联合米非司酮治疗输卵管异位妊娠的临床效果和安全性。方法 选取2017年5月—2019年5月就诊于我院的84例输卵管异位妊娠患者,按随机数字表法分为两组,各42例。对照组予以米非司酮治疗,观察组加用康妇炎胶囊治疗。比较两组临床疗效、包块大小和血β-人绒毛膜促性腺激素(β-HCG)、性激素水平、不良反应情况。结果 观察组临床总有效率为92.86%,高于对照组的73.81%,差异有统计学意义(χ2=5.486,P=0.019);两组治疗后包块大小均较治疗前小,观察组治疗后包块大小为(0.84±0.12)cm,较对照组的(1.16±0.18)cm小(t=9.586,P＜0.001);两组β-HCG均较治疗前低,β-HCG为(312.04±63.65)U/L,较对照组的(435.14±68.41)U/L低,差异有统计学意义(t=8.538,P＜0.001);两组治疗后卵泡刺激素(FSH)、雌二醇(E2)和促黄体生成素(LH)水平低于治疗前,观察组治疗后FSH(12.03±2.11vs14.58±2.23,t=5.383,P＜0.001)、E2(143.69±15.62vs158.95±16.37,t=4.371,P＜0.001)、LH为(9.34±1.53vs13.05±2.18,t=9.028,P＜0.001)均低于对照组;两组不良反应相比,差异无统计学意义(χ2=0.138,P=0.457)。结论 康妇炎胶囊联合米非司酮可增强输卵管异位妊娠治疗效果,改善性激素水平,加快包块消失,促进β-HCG复常,安全可靠。