Risk factors,clinical course and outcomes of pregnancy-related group A streptococcal infections: retrospective 13-year cohort study

Objectives

To investigate the incidence, risk factors, clinical course and outcomes of pregnancy-related group A streptococcus (GAS) infection.

ECLIPS: An extended clinical laboratory information processing system

The clinical laboratory is regarded as a component of the medical care system extending from physician to laboratory staff and back to physician. From this concept a computer-based system of laboratory information is derived, emphasizing: (1) total laboratory responsibility for the test and its request, and (2) physician-oriented output reports.     

Preprocessor Adapts Cardiovascular Signals to a Minicomputer

A laboratory-developed analog signal processor, driven by a conventional polygraph recorder and associated signal conditioning devices, provides automatic heart beat-by-heart beat preprocessing of various cardiovascular functions for input to a laboratory-type minicomputer. The technique of preprocessing individual functions, integrated with the minicomputer system which includes an A/D converter and teletype as input-output peripherals, provides a low-cost data acquisition and reduction system for the on-line computation and analysis of cardiovascular functions in experimental research applications. Such preprocessing more efficiently uses the minicomputer's memory to handle large amounts of information since the digitized data is in the form of one data sample, per function, per heart beat. Preprocessing analog data provides a low density data format and simplified software programs that are ideally suited for the utilization of a minicomputer in this on-line application.     

cDNA基因芯片数据分析软件的研发进展

数据分析与挖掘是基因芯片研究的关键和难点,而软件是数据分析方法实现的主要手段。我们从以下几个方面对cDNA基因芯片分析软件进行了综述。首先介绍了芯片数据的获取及分析的软件,然后概述了不同统计软件在芯片数据分析中的应用,并详细介绍几种常用的芯片数据分析软件,最后简述了基因网络分析及数据挖掘方面的软件。     

中国首批美沙酮维持治疗门诊病人入组情况及治疗维持率

目的：了解中国首批美沙酮维持治疗门诊病人数量变化情况并计算其治疗维持率。方法：使用美沙酮维持治疗管理系统软件收集中国首批8个美沙酮维持治疗门诊数据,并进行数据整理与分析。结果：除浙江舟山门诊、广西南宁门诊和贵州织金门诊以外,其余5个门诊的在诊病人数均在6个月以内超过100人。首批8个门诊6个月及12个月的平均维持率分别为63%和48%,其中个旧门诊6个月及12个月的治疗维持率均列8个门诊之首,分别为84%和65%。结论：中国首批8家美沙酮维持治疗试点门诊运转平稳,但仍需要提高病人治疗维持率。     

Geometric modeling of the human torso using cubic hermite elements

We discuss the advantages and problems associated with fitting geometric data of the human torso obtained from magnetic resonance imaging, with high-order (bicubic Hermite) surface elements. These elements preserve derivative (C ¹) continuity across element boundaries and permit smooth anatomically accurate surfaces to be obtained with relatively few elements. These elements are fitted to the data with a new nonlinear fitting procedure that minimizes the error in the fit while maintainingC ¹ continuity with nonlinear constraints. Nonlinear Sobelov smoothing is also incorporated into this fitting scheme. The structures fitted along with their corresponding root meansquared error, number of elements used, and number of degrees of freedom (df) per variable are: epicardium (0.91 mm, 40 elements, 142 df), left lung (1.66 mm, 80 elements, 309 df), right lung (1.69 mm, 80 elements, 309 df), skeletal muscle surface (1.67 mm, 264 elements, 1,010 df), fat layer (1.79 mm, 264 elements, 1,010 df), and the skin layer (1.43 mm, 264 elements, 1,010 df). The fitted surfaces are assembled into a combined finite element/boundary element model of the torso in which the exterior surfaces of the heart and lungs are modeled with two-dimensional boundary elements and the layers of the skeletal muscle, fat, and skin are modeled with finite elements. The skeletal muscle and fat layers are modeled with bicubic Hermite linear elements and are obtained by joining the adjacent surface elements for each layer. Applications for the torso model include the forward and inverse problems of electrocardiography, defibrillation studies, radiation dosage studies, and heat transfer studies.     

Acquisition of different carbapenem resistance mechanisms by an epidemic clonal lineage of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Multidrug-resistant isolates of a clonal lineage of Pseudomonas aeruginosa producing the VIM-2 metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL), involved in a large outbreak in an Italian hospital, were compared with MBL-negative strains that had caused outbreaks in two French hospitals. Although the isolates had different carbapenem MICs, the VIM-2-producing isolates from Italy carried identical, or very similar, allelic forms of the oprD gene, harboured a common class 1 integron, belonged to the same multilocus sequence type (ST111), and showed macrorestriction profiles that were related to those of the MBL-negative French strains. These results support the concept of independent acquisition of resistance determinants by members of a widespread clonal lineage of P. aeruginosa.     

Effects of data limitations on heartbeat detection in the method of constant stimuli

In the method of constant stimuli applied to measuring heartbeat detection, subjects judge the simultaneity of heartbeats and exteroceptive comparison stimuli presented at various intervals after the R-wave (0, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 ms). Using versions of this procedure, investigators have found that between 20% (Yates, Jones, Marie, & Hogben, 1985) and 54% (Brener, Liu, & Ring, 1993) of subjects can detect heartbeat sensations. Whereas Yates et al. used a single comparison stimulus on each trial and Brener et al. used 10, the present study examined whether this disparity in heartbeat detection performance could be attributed to the number of comparison stimuli presented on each trial. In each of 360 trials, 30 subjects judged the simultaneity of heartbeat sensations and tones following 1, 5, or 10 comparison stimulus presentations. Significantly fewer subjects met the criterion for heartbeat detection with I tone presentation (13%) than with either 5 (43%) or 10 (47%) tone presentations. It is concluded that a single stimulus presentation imposes data limitations that result in underestimation of the accuracy of heartbeat detection. The presentation of at least 5 stimuli in each trial alleviates this limitation.     

Incremental repeated acquisition in the rat: acute effects of drugs

Rats lever pressed for food and learned new response sequences on three levers. At the beginning of each daily session, responses on only one of the levers produced food. After meeting criterion on one lever, the task was "incremented" so that sequential responses on two levers were required and so on up to five sequential responses. Each new required response was added in front of the previously performed sequence. Sequences of lever presses required to produce food changed each session. Following establishment of stable acquisition behavior, the acute effects of d-amphetamine (0.30-3.0 mg/kg), diazepam (0.125-4.0 mg/kg), morphine (0.30-10.0 mg/kg), pentobarbital (1.0-17.5 mg/kg), and chlorpromazine (0.10-3.0 mg/kg) were examined. All drugs decreased the number of response sequences completed in a dose-dependent fashion. Response rates generally decreased at or below those doses that caused an increase in errors. For d-amphetamine, the profound disruption of incremental repeated acquisition behavior was primarily due to drug-induced perserverative responding. Pentobarbital and chlorpromazine increased errors both when the sequence was incremented and within the sequence whereas diazepam only increased errors when the sequence was incremented. Morphine generally increased within sequence errors without affecting errors when the sequence was incremented.     

病例组合指数的内涵及应用探讨

国内普遍认为病例组合指数(CMI)属于医疗服务能力维度,体现收治疾病的疑难复杂程度和医疗服务的整体技术难度。通过结构方程模型分析发现,CMI与时间消耗指数、费用消耗指数等服务效率维度指标联系更紧密,与DRG组数、入组病例数及总权重等服务能力维度指标联系相对较弱,故应归属医疗服务效率维度。CMI的直接应用主要是对平均住院费用的预测控制及对科室绩效的评价;CMI的间接应用主要是对管理指标的调整/校正。医院管理者应准确把握CMI内涵,恰当应用CMI对不同层级及不同类别住院费用进行预测、评价与控制,并对其他管理指标进行调整后再评价。