Development and Evaluation of an Interactive CD-ROM Refusal Skills Program to Prevent Youth Substance Use: “Refuse to Use”

An interactive CD-ROM program designed to reduce adolescent substance use was developed and evaluated. The program uses video vignettes to teach refusal skills and socially acceptable responses to substance use situations, specifically offers of marijuana. In a randomized pretest-to-posttest experiment with 74 public school students from six classes in three high schools, significant changes were observed at posttest on (1) the adolescent's personal efficacy to refuse the offer of marijuana, (2) the adolescent's intention to refuse marijuana if offered, and (3) the adolescent's perceptions of the social norms associated with substance use and the importance of respecting another's decision to refuse a drug offer. In addition, adolescents in the treatment condition were able to recall approximately 50% of the portrayed refusal strategies. Findings are discussed with regard to the potential benefits of an interactive multimedia approach for conducting substance use interventions.     

Fast Adaptive Unsharp Masking with Programmable Mediaprocessors

Unsharp masking is a widely used image-enhancement method in medical imaging. Hardware-based solutions can be developed to support high computational demand for unsharp masking, but they suffer from limited flexibility. Software solutions can easily incorporate new features and modify key parameters, such as filtering kernel size, but they have not been able to meet the fast computing requirement. Modern programmable mediaprocessors can meet both fast computing and flexibility requirements, which will benefit medical image computing. In this article, we present fast adaptive unsharp masking on two leading mediaprocessors or high-end digital signal processors, Hitachi/Equator Technologies MAP-CA and Texas Instruments TMS320C64x. For a 2k × 2k 16-bit image, our adaptive unsharp masking with a 201 × 201 boxcar kernel takes 225 ms on a 300-MHz MAP-CA and 74 ms on a 600-MHz TMS320C64x. This fast unsharp masking enables technologists and/or physicians to adjust parameters interactively for optimal quality assurance and image viewing.     

重点高中生的心理状态与高考成绩的相关性研究

目的;了解重点高中学生的心理状态与高考成绩之间的关系。方法：以398例应届生为对象,应用16PF人格测验,气质测量工具（STI,TTI）及焦虑自评量表（SAS）,对考生进行测试分析,结果：文理科学生的16PF的人格特质有明显的差别,判别分析和多因素回归分析显示16PF人格特质中的Q1因素（实验性F＝8．76,P＜0．01）,Q2因素（独立性F＝8．23,P＜0．01）,与高考成绩呈正相关,与M因素（幻想性F＝4．88,P＜0．01）,呈负相关;气质中的神经过程灵活性（F＝8．15,P＜0．01）和时间特质中的灵活性（F＝12．36,P＜0．01）与高才成绩呈正相关。结论：高考生的实验性,独立性高分及幻想性低分的个性特质和气质上的灵活性有助于高考成绩的发挥,学生文理科分班宜参考学生人格特质这一特点,。     

药用辅料在制剂中的应用概述

药用辅料是药物制剂的基础材料的重要的组成部分,在制剂型和生产中起着关键作用,它不仅赋予药物一定剂型,并且与提高药物的疗效,降低毒副作用有很大的关系,因此,研究开发,合理应用辅仅可提高药物制剂质量和生产技术水平,而且可取得较大的社会及经济效益。     

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), also referred to as metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), is the commonest form of chronic liver disorder arising from metabolic dysregulation. It encompasses a wide spectrum of fatty liver phenotypes including isolated steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH is considered more likely to lead to grave clinical consequences such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, compared to simple steatosis. NASH is characterised by steatosis, inflammation, and damage to hepatocytes. Here, we present a case of a middle-aged gentleman with a background of infectious hepatitis who presented with NASH, with emphasis on terminology and histological assessment criteria of NAFLD and NASH. Reflection on and consistent effort to standardise terminology and assessment criteria will aid in addressing the scientific and clinical needs of NAFLD and NASH.