• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제51권4호
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• pp.467-470
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• 2013

The present study reports a human case of cutaneous gnathostomiasis with recurrent migratory nodule and persistent eosinophilia in China. A 52-year-old woman from Henan Province, central China, presented with recurrent migratory reddish swelling and subcutaneous nodule in the left upper arm and on the back for 3 months. Blood examination showed eosinophila (21.2%), and anti-sparganum antibodies were positive. Skin biopsy of the lesion and histopathological examinations revealed dermal infiltrates of eosinophils but did not show any parasites. Thus, the patient was first diagnosed as sparganosis; however, new migratory swellings occurred after treatment with praziquantel for 3 days. On further inquiring, she recalled having eaten undercooked eels and specific antibodies to the larvae of Gnathostoma spinigerum were detected. The patient was definitely diagnosed as cutaneous gnathostomiasis caused by Gnathostoma sp. and treated with albendazole (1,000 mg/day) for 15 days, and the subsequent papule and blister developed after the treatment. After 1 month, laboratory findings indicated a reduced eosinophil count (3.3%). At her final follow-up 18 months later, the patient had no further symptoms and anti-Gnathostoma antibodies became negative. Conclusively, the present study is the first report on a human case of cutaneous gnathostomiasis in Henan Province, China, based on the past history (eating undercooked eels), clinical manifestations (migratory subcutaneous nodule and persistent eosinophilia), and a serological finding (positive for specific anti-Gnathostoma antibodies).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권9호
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• pp.3969-3972
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• 2015

Background: This analysis was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lenalidomide based regimen in treating patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Clinical studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of lenalidomide based regimens on response and safety for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer were identified using a predefined search strategy. A pooled response rate (rate of PSA level decline of ${\geq}50%$) to treatment was calculated. Results: In lenalidomide based regimen, 3 clinical studies which including 98 patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer were considered eligible for inclusion. These lenalidomide based regimens included cisplatin, doxorubicin, or GM-CSF. Pooled analysis suggested that, in all patients, the pooled PSA level decline of ${\geq}50%$ was 13.3% (13/98) in lenalidomide based regimens. Fatigue, nausea and vomitting were the main side effects. No grade III or IV renal or liver toxicity were observed. No treatment related death occurred in patients with lenalidomide based regimens. Conclusions: This evidence based analysis suggests that lenalidomide based regimens are associated with mild response rate and acceptable toxicities for treating patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권8호
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• pp.3681-3685
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• 2012

Background: In breast cancer, estrogen receptors have been demonstrated to interact with transcription factors to regulate target gene expression. However, high-throughput identification of the transcription regulation relationship between transcription factors and their target genes in response to estradiol is still in its infancy. Purpose: Thus, the objective of our study was to interpret the transcription regulation network of MCF7 breast cancer cells exposed to estradiol. Methods: In this work, GSE11352 microarray data were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Results: Our results showed that the MYB (v-myb myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog [avian]), PGR (progesterone receptor), and MYC (v-myc myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog [avian]) were hub nodes in our transcriptome network, which may interact with ER and, in turn, regulate target gene expression. MYB can up-regulate MCM3 (minichromosome maintenance 3) and MCM7 expression; PGR can suppress BCL2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) expression; MYC can inhibit TGFB2 (transforming growth factor, beta 2) expression. These genes are associated with breast cancer progression via cell cycling and the $TGF{\beta}$ signaling pathway. Conclusion: Analysis of transcriptional regulation may provide a better understanding of molecular mechanisms and clues to potential therapeutic targets in the treatment of breast cancer.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.287-301
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• 2020

Fragility as one of the most effective methods to evaluate seismic performance, which is greatly affected by damage index. Taking a multi span continuous rigid frame offshore bridge as an example. Based on fragility and reliability theory, considering coupling effect of time-varying durability damage of materials and time-varying attenuation effect of damage index to analyze seismic performance of offshore bridges. Results show that IDA curve considering time-varying damage index is obviously below that without considering; area enclosed by IDA of 1# pier and X-axis under No.1 earthquake considering this effect is 96% of that without considering. Area enclosed by damage index of 1# pier and X-axis under serious damage with considering time-varying damage index is 90% of that without considering in service period. Time-varying damage index has a greater impact on short pier when ground motion intensity is small, while it has a great impact on high pier when the intensity is large. The area enclosed by fragility of bridge system and X-axis under complete destruction considering time-varying damage index is 165% of that without considering when reach designed service life. Therefore, time-varying attenuation effect of damage index has a great impact on seismic performance of bridge in service period.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제30권11호
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• pp.2687-2690
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• 2009

Due to the importance of isoflavone content in soybean extracts, the microwave-assisted process (MAP) was compared to the conventional extraction methods. For comparison of the three methods, all extraction parameters (solvent, sample to solvent ratio, temperature, etc.) were kept the same; the microwave extractor was operated at 187.5 W with an emission frequency of 2450 MHz under atmospheric pressure conditions and the extractions were carried out at 75 ${^{\circ}C}$ for 3 min while the conventional reflux was at 75 ${^{\circ}C}$ for 3 h. Total yield and crude isoflavone content were determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometric and compared with the three methods. Results indicated that the MAP was comparable to the conventional method in its capability to extract target compounds without causing any degradation; in addition it dramatically reduced the extraction time from 3 h to a few minutes, suggesting that it can be an alternative technique to the time-consuming conventional reflux method.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.101-122
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• 2003

With the development of the American Customer satisfaction index (ACSI), research on customer satisfaction measurement or evaluation methods have become significant in the last decade. Most of international customer satisfaction barometers or indices are evolved based on the cause and effect relationship model of ACSI. Of critical importance to validity of customer satisfaction indices is how to construct a measurement attribute or indicator model and provide an effective implementation method effectively. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a very useful tool for translating the customer voice into product design through quality engineering. In fact, this is a methodology for measuring and analyzing evaluation indicators by their relationship matrix. In this paper, we will make an effort to integrate the framework of QFD into the measurement problem of customer satisfaction, and also develop a new multi-phase QFD model for evaluation of Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI). From the houses of quality in this model, the evaluation indicators impacting on customer's global satisfaction are identified by means of their relationship matrix. Then the evaluation indicator hierarchy and its measurement method for the customer satisfaction index are presented graphically. Furthermore, survey data from the Chinese automobile maintenance sector and a relevant case study are utilized to show the implementation method of the QFD model used to measure and analyze of customer satisfaction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제76권4호
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• pp.479-489
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• 2020

This paper proposed a novel form of reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall confined with boundary columns. The structural effect of applying steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) in the wall-column systems was studied. Three full-scale wall samples were constructed including two RC wall-RC column samples with different stirrup ratios and one RC wall-SFRC column sample. Low frequency cyclic testing was carried out to investigate the failure modes, hysteretic behavior, load-bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation. ABAQUS models were set up to simulate the structural behavior of tested samples, and good agreement was achieved between numerical simulation and experimental results. A further supplementary parametric study was conducted based on ABAQUS models. Both experimental and numerical results showed that increasing stirrup ratio in boundary columns did not affect much on load bearing capacity or stiffness degradation of the system. However, applying SFRC in boundary columns showed significant enhancement on load bearing capacity. Numerical simulation also shows that the structural performances of RC wall-SFRC column system were comparable to a wall-column system fully with SFRC.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.47-65
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• 2015

A novel finite element (FE) model updating method based on multi-resolution analysis (MRA) is proposed. The true stiffness of the FE model is considered as the superposition of two pieces of stiffness information of different resolutions: the pre-defined stiffness information and updating stiffness information. While the resolution of former is solely decided by the meshing density of the FE model, the resolution of latter is decided by the limited information obtained from the experiment. The latter resolution is considerably lower than the former. Second generation wavelet is adopted to describe the updating stiffness information in the framework of MRA. This updating stiffness in MRA is realized at low level of resolution, therefore, needs less number of updating parameters. The efficiency of the optimization process is thus enhanced. The proposed method is suitable for the identification of multiple irregular cracks and performs well in capturing the global features of the structural damage. After the global features are identified, a refinement process proposed in the paper can be carried out to improve the performance of the MRA of the updating information. The effectiveness of the method is verified by numerical simulations of a box girder and the experiment of a three-span continues pre-stressed concrete bridge. It is shown that the proposed method corresponds well to the global features of the structural damage and is stable against the perturbation of modal parameters and small variations of the damage.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.405-415
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• 2021

Following the dynamic property analysis and elaboration, linear response spectrum analysis (RSA) and response history analysis (RHA) were conducted on a representative hyperbolic cooling towers (HCT) in present study. The seismic responses in tower shell were illustrated in detail, including the internal force amplitude, modal contribution, influence from damping ratio, comparison of results got from RSA and RHA and especially the latitude distributions of internal forces. The results show that the eigenmodes could be classified in a new method into four types according to their mode shapes and only the lateral bending modes and vertical stretching modes are meaningful for horizontal and vertical earthquake correspondingly. The bending modes and seismic deformation display the same feature which is global lateral bending accompanied by minute circular flow displacement of section. This feature also decides the latitude distributions of internal forces as sine or cosine. Moreover, the following method is also proposed for approximate estimation of internal force amplitudes without time-consuming response history analysis: getting the response spectrums of the selected ground accelerations and then comparing values of response spectrums at the natural period of first lateral bending mode because it is always prime dominant for horizontal seismic responses.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.183-193
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• 2022

Structural health monitoring and structural vibration control are multidisciplinary and frontier research directions of civil engineering. As intelligent materials that integrate sensing and actuation capabilities, shape memory alloys (SMAs) exhibit multiple excellent characteristics, such as shape memory effect, superelasticity, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, and high energy density. Moreover, SMAs possess excellent resistance sensing properties and large deformation ability. Superfine NiTi SMA wires have potential applications in structural health monitoring and micro-drive system. In this study, the mechanical properties and electrical resistance sensing characteristics of superfine NiTi SMA wires were experimentally investigated. The mechanical parameters such as residual strain, hysteretic energy, secant stiffness, and equivalent damping ratio were analyzed at different training strain amplitudes and numbers of loading-unloading cycles. The results demonstrate that the detwinning process shortened with increasing training amplitude, while austenitic mechanical properties were not affected. In addition, superfine SMA wires showed good strain-resistance linear correlation, and the loading rate had little effect on their mechanical properties and electrical resistance sensing characteristics. This study aims to provide an experimental basis for the application of superfine SMA wires in engineering.