SpringerPlus[JOURNAL]
Sun
200 papers
Molecular characterization of new described kobuvirus in dogs with diarrhea in China.
Kong N, Zuo Y, Wang Z … +4 more , Yu H, Zhou EM, Shan T, Tong G
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995024 · Full text
Canine kobuvirus (CaKVs) was a newly described virus detected in dogs in the US and Italy. To learn more about CaKVs, 5 of 106 fecal samples from diarrhea dogs were positive with CaKVs in China, and the full genome of Ca...
Canine kobuvirus (CaKVs) was a newly described virus detected in dogs in the US and Italy. To learn more about CaKVs, 5 of 106 fecal samples from diarrhea dogs were positive with CaKVs in China, and the full genome of CaKVs strain CH-1 isolated from dog with diarrhea was sequenced. The genome consists of 8186 nucleotides, excluding the 3' poly (A) tail, and an open reading frame that maps between nucleotide positions 601 and 7943 which encodes a 2446 amino acid polyprotein. Based on the complete amino acid sequence of polyprotein, phylogenetic analysis showed that CH-1 was grouped along with other canine kobuvirus strains detected in the USA (US-PC0082, AN211D).
Exploring key factors in online shopping with a hybrid model.
Chen HM, Wu CH, Tsai SB … +3 more , Yu J, Wang J, Zheng Y
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995023 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, the web increasingly influences retail sales. An in-depth analysis of consumer decision-making in the context of e-business has become an important issue for internet vendors. However, factors aff...
INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, the web increasingly influences retail sales. An in-depth analysis of consumer decision-making in the context of e-business has become an important issue for internet vendors. However, factors affecting e-business are complicated and intertwined. CASE DESCRIPTION: To stimulate online sales, understanding key influential factors and causal relationships among the factors is important. To gain more insights into this issue, this paper introduces a hybrid method, which combines the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) with the analytic network process, called DANP method, to find out the driving factors that influence the online business mostly. DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION: By DEMATEL approach the causal graph showed that "online service" dimension has the highest degree of direct impact on other dimensions; thus, the internet vendor is suggested to made strong efforts on service quality throughout the online shopping process. CONCLUSIONS: In addition, the study adopted DANP to measure the importance of key factors, among which "transaction security" proves to be the most important criterion. Hence, transaction security should be treated with top priority to boost the online businesses. From our study with DANP approach, the comprehensive information can be visually detected so that the decision makers can spotlight on the root causes to develop effectual actions.
Multilevel hybrid method for optimal buffer sizing and inspection stations positioning.
Mhada FZ, Ouzineb M, Pellerin R … +1 more , El Hallaoui I
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995022 · Full text
Designing competitive manufacturing systems with high levels of productivity and quality at a reasonable cost is a complex task. Decision makers must face numerous decision variables which involve multiple and iterative...
Designing competitive manufacturing systems with high levels of productivity and quality at a reasonable cost is a complex task. Decision makers must face numerous decision variables which involve multiple and iterative analysis of the estimated cost, quality and productivity of each design alternative. This paper adresses this issue by providing a fast algorithm for solving the buffer sizing and inspection positioning problem of large production lines by combining heuristic and exact algorithms. We develop a multilevel hybrid search method combining a genetic algorithm and tabu search to identify promising locations for the inspection stations and an exact method that optimizes rapidly (in polynomial time) the buffers' sizes for each location. Our method gives valuable insights into the problem, and its solution time is a small fraction of that required by the exact method on production lines with 10-30 machines.
Effect of shallow angles on compressive strength of biaxial and triaxial laminates.
Jia H, Yang HI
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995021 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Biaxial (BX) and triaxial (TX) composite laminates with ±45° angled plies have been widely used in wind turbine blades. As the scale of blades increases, BX and TX laminates with shallow-angled plies (i.e. of...
BACKGROUND: Biaxial (BX) and triaxial (TX) composite laminates with ±45° angled plies have been widely used in wind turbine blades. As the scale of blades increases, BX and TX laminates with shallow-angled plies (i.e. off-axis ply angle <45°) might be utilized for reducing mass and/or improving performance. The compressive properties of shallow-angled BX and TX laminates are critical considering their locations in a wind turbine blade, and therefore in this study, the uniaxial static compression tests were conducted using BX and TX laminates with angled-plies of ±45°, ±35°, and ±25°, for the purpose of evaluation. On the other hand, Mori-Tanaka mean field homogenization method was employed to predict elastic constants of plies in BX and TX laminates involved in tests; linear regression analyses of experimentally measured ply strengths collected from various sources were then performed to estimate strengths of plies in BX and TX laminates; finally, Tsai-Wu, Hashin, and Puck failure criteria were chosen to predict compressive strengths of BX and TX laminates. Comparison between theoretical predictions and test results were carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of each criterion. RESULTS: The compressive strength of BX laminate decreases as ply angle increases, and the trend was successfully predicted by all three failure criteria. For TX laminates, ±35° angled plies rather than ±45° angled plies led to the lowest laminate compressive strength. Hashin and Puck criteria gave good predictions at certain ply angles for TX laminates, but Tsai-Wu criterion was able to capture the unexpected strength variation of TX laminates with ply angle. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the transverse tensile stress in 0° plies of TX laminates, which attains its maximum when the off-axis ply angle is 35°, is the dominant factor in failure determination if using Tsai-Wu criterion. This explains the unexpected strength variation of TX laminates with ply angle, and also indicates that proper selection of ply angle is the key to fully utilizing the advantages of shallow-angled laminates.
Influence of viscous dissipation and Joule heating on MHD bio-convection flow over a porous wedge in the presence of nanoparticles and gyrotactic microorganisms.
Khan U, Ahmed N, Mohyud-Din ST
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995020 · Full text
BACKGROUND: The flow over a porous wedge, in the presence of viscous dissipation and Joule heating, has been investigated. The wedge is assumed to be saturated with nanofluid containing gyrotactic microorganisms. For the...
BACKGROUND: The flow over a porous wedge, in the presence of viscous dissipation and Joule heating, has been investigated. The wedge is assumed to be saturated with nanofluid containing gyrotactic microorganisms. For the flow, magneto-hydrodynamic effects are also taken into consideration. The problem is formulated by using the passive control model. The partial differential equations, governing the flow, are transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations by employing some suitable similarity transformations. RESULTS: A numerical scheme, called Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method, has been used to obtain the local similarity solutions for the system. Variations in the velocity, temperature, concentration and motile micro-organisms density profiles are highlighted with the help of graphs. The expressions for skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number, Sherwood number and motile micro-organisms density number are obtained and plotted accordingly. For the validity of the obtained results, a comparison with already existing results (special cases) is also presented. CONCLUSION: The magnetic field increases the velocity of the fluid. Injection at the walls can be used to reduce the velocity boundary layer thickness. Thermal boundary layer thickness can be reduced by using the magnetic field and the suction at the wall. The motile microorganisms density profile is an increasing function of the bioconvection Pecket number and bioconvection constant. The same is a decreasing function of , and . The skin friction coefficient increases with increasing and [Formula: see text]. Nusselt number and the density number of motile microorganisms are higher for the case of suction as compared to the injection case. The density number of motile microorganisms is an increasing function for all the involved parameters.
Colombeau products of distributions.
Miteva M, Jolevska-Tuneska B, Atanasova-Pacemska T
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995019 · Full text
In this paper, some products of distributions are derived. The results are obtained in Colombeau algebra of generalized functions, which is the most relevant algebraic construction for dealing with Schwartz distributions...
In this paper, some products of distributions are derived. The results are obtained in Colombeau algebra of generalized functions, which is the most relevant algebraic construction for dealing with Schwartz distributions. Colombeau algebra [Formula: see text] contains the space [Formula: see text] of Schwartz distributions as a subspace, and has a notion of 'association' that allows us to evaluate the results in terms of distributions.
Who reports high company performance? A quantitative study of Chinese listed companies in the energy industry.
Guo D, Chen H, Long R
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995018 · Full text
In the increasingly competitive environment, top managers' background characteristics are undoubtedly vital factors for company performance. This study examines whether the performance of Chinese listed companies in the...
In the increasingly competitive environment, top managers' background characteristics are undoubtedly vital factors for company performance. This study examines whether the performance of Chinese listed companies in the energy industry differs with respect to top managers' background characteristics and explores the exact distribution interval of top managers' background characteristics when company performance reaches the highest level. The initial sample was collected from the CSMAR database (2005-2014) for listed companies in the energy industry. After removing the outlier and missing data, the final number of observations was determined as 780. Descriptive statistics were used to investigate the present distribution of top managers' background characteristics, factor analysis was used to determine the dimensions of company performance, and one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the differences in company performance and its dimensions with respect to top managers' background characteristics. The findings show that both the age and length of service of top managers present an increasing trend over the years of the study period, whereas the educational level shows no significant changes. The performance of listed companies has three dimensions: profit performance, growth performance, and operating performance. Companies behave differently with regard to their top managers' background characteristics; when the top manager is 40-45 years old, with a doctoral degree and above, and in the 2nd-3rd year of his service period, his company will achieve a higher level of performance. This study contributes to the growing literature on company performance in the Chinese energy industry by demonstrating the differences in the performance of Chinese listed companies in the energy industry with regard to top managers' background characteristics, and reaching conclusions on the optimum distribution interval of top managers' background characteristics when company performance reaches the highest level. This study also provides a valuable reference for organizational reform and performance enhancement, which are urgent problems for the Chinese energy industry.
Influence of physician years on urological journal publication productivity among Japanese urologists.
Niwa N, Kikuchi E, Matsumoto K … +2 more , Miyajima A, Oya M
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995017 · Full text
PURPOSE: To evaluate the urological journal publication productivity of Japanese urologists based on their physician years. METHODS: All original articles written by Japanese urologists and published from Japanese instit...
PURPOSE: To evaluate the urological journal publication productivity of Japanese urologists based on their physician years. METHODS: All original articles written by Japanese urologists and published from Japanese institutions in 6 primary urological journals between 2010 and 2014 were reviewed (N = 529 articles). RESULTS: The median post-graduate years of the first and corresponding authors of all articles were 16 and 21 years, respectively. The publication productivities of the first and corresponding authors peaked from 11 to 15 and both 16-20 and 21-25 post-graduate years, respectively. In 187 publications in which the first and corresponding authors were different, first and corresponding author publication productivities peaked from 11 to 15 and 21-25 post-graduate years, respectively. In 342 publications in which the first author served as the corresponding author, first author publication productivity peaked from 16 to 20 post-graduate years. Of all articles examined, 130 (24.6%) were written by young urologists who had obtained their national medical license not less than 11 years ago. Only 0.9% (5/529) of all articles were written by female Japanese urologists, who account for 5.0% (332/6,649) of all Japanese Board Certified Urologists. CONCLUSIONS: The present study revealed that from 11 to 15 post-graduate years was the most productive time for Japanese urologists as the first author of urological publications and also that the role in manuscript preparation changed with increases in physician years. These results provide an insight into reconstructing future post-graduate training and educational urological programs in Japan.
New hospital structure in the twenty-first century: the position of level III (tertiary) neurological and stroke care in a changing healthcare system.
Szentes T, Kovács L, Óváry C
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995016 · Full text
AIM: The determination of the necessary capacity and number of neurology wards of level III progressivity that can be defined in the system of criteria detailed in this article and which possess optimal operating conditi...
AIM: The determination of the necessary capacity and number of neurology wards of level III progressivity that can be defined in the system of criteria detailed in this article and which possess optimal operating conditions in Hungarian terms. METHODS: We used the National Health Insurance Company's database to calculate case numbers and capacity for different levels of neurological and stroke care. We also revised the allocation of advanced diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, and proposed changes, based on health insurance data. We also discussed these propositions with clinical experts to test their viability. RESULTS: We determined the adequate number of organisational units capable of providing special neurological healthcare services on the basis of the basic data of the Hungarian healthcare system, specifying this number as 6 instead of the current 11. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we have identified significant bias in the nationwide level of neurological and stroke care organisation, which needs revised allocation of healthcare resources. Naturally, this can only be carried out through the restructuring of the emergency care system and the expansion of pre-hospital care.
The prognostic factors for patients with hematological malignancies admitted to the intensive care unit.
Cheng Q, Tang Y, Yang Q … +3 more , Wang E, Liu J, Li X
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995015 · Full text
Owing to the nature of acute illness and adverse effects derived from intensive chemotherapy, patients with hematological malignancies (HM) who are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often present with poor progno...
Owing to the nature of acute illness and adverse effects derived from intensive chemotherapy, patients with hematological malignancies (HM) who are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often present with poor prognosis. However, with advances in life-sustaining therapies and close collaborations between hematologists and intensive care specialists, the prognosis for these patients has improved substantially. Many studies from different countries have examined the prognostic factors of these critically ill HM patients. However, there has not been an up-to-date review on this subject, and very few studies have focused on the prognosis of patients with HM admitted to the ICU in Asian countries. Herein, we aim to explore the current situation and prognostic factors in patients with HM admitted to ICU, mainly focusing on studies published in the last 10 years.
Equivalent modeling of PMSG-based wind power plants considering LVRT capabilities: electromechanical transients in power systems.
Ding M, Zhu Q
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995014 · Full text
Hardware protection and control action are two kinds of low voltage ride-through technical proposals widely used in a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). This paper proposes an innovative clustering concept fo...
Hardware protection and control action are two kinds of low voltage ride-through technical proposals widely used in a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). This paper proposes an innovative clustering concept for the equivalent modeling of a PMSG-based wind power plant (WPP), in which the impacts of both the chopper protection and the coordinated control of active and reactive powers are taken into account. First, the post-fault DC link voltage is selected as a concentrated expression of unit parameters, incoming wind and electrical distance to a fault point to reflect the transient characteristics of PMSGs. Next, we provide an effective method for calculating the post-fault DC link voltage based on the pre-fault wind energy and the terminal voltage dip. Third, PMSGs are divided into groups by analyzing the calculated DC link voltages without any clustering algorithm. Finally, PMSGs of the same group are equivalent as one rescaled PMSG to realize the transient equivalent modeling of the PMSG-based WPP. Using the DIgSILENT PowerFactory simulation platform, the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed equivalent model are tested against the traditional equivalent WPP and the detailed WPP. The simulation results show the proposed equivalent model can be used to analyze the offline electromechanical transients in power systems.
Complete plastid genome of (Thunb.) Lindl and comparative analysis in Rosaceae.
Shen L, Guan Q, Amin A … +5 more , Zhu W, Li M, Li X, Zhang L, Tian J
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995013 · Full text
(Thunb.) Lindl (loquat) is an evergreen Rosaceae fruit tree widely distributed in subtropical regions. Its leaves are considered as traditional Chinese medicine and are of high medical value especially for cough and emes...
(Thunb.) Lindl (loquat) is an evergreen Rosaceae fruit tree widely distributed in subtropical regions. Its leaves are considered as traditional Chinese medicine and are of high medical value especially for cough and emesis. Thus, we sequenced the complete plastid genome of to better utilize this important species. The complete plastid genome of is 159,137 bp in length, which contains a typical quadripartite structure with a pair of inverted repeats (IR, 26,326 bp) separated by large (LSC, 89,202 bp) and small (SSC, 19,283 bp) single-copy regions. The plastid genome encodes 112 unique genes which consist of 78 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes and 4 rRNA genes. Gene structure and content of plastid genome are quite conserved and show similarity among Rosaceous species. Five large indels are unique to in comparison with and , which could be utilized as molecular markers. A total of 72 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected and most of them are mononucleotide repeats composed of A or T, indicating a strong A or T bias for base composition. The Ka and Ks ratios of most genes are lower than 1, which suggests that most genes are under purifying selection. The phylogenetic analysis described the evolutionary relationship within Rosaceae and fully supported a close relationship between and
DCBRP: a deterministic chain-based routing protocol for wireless sensor networks.
Marhoon HA, Mahmuddin M, Nor SA
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995012 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a promising area for both researchers and industry because of their various applications The sensor node expends the majority of its energy on communication with other node...
BACKGROUND: Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a promising area for both researchers and industry because of their various applications The sensor node expends the majority of its energy on communication with other nodes. Therefore, the routing protocol plays an important role in delivering network data while minimizing energy consumption as much as possible. The chain-based routing approach is superior to other approaches. However, chain-based routing protocols still expend substantial energy in the Chain Head (CH) node. In addition, these protocols also have the bottleneck issues. METHODS: A novel routing protocol which is Deterministic Chain-Based Routing Protocol (DCBRP). DCBRP consists of three mechanisms: Backbone Construction Mechanism, Chain Head Selection (CHS), and the Next Hop Connection Mechanism. The CHS mechanism is presented in detail, and it is evaluated through comparison with the CCM and TSCP using an ns-3 simulator. RESULTS: It show that DCBRP outperforms both CCM and TSCP in terms of end-to-end delay by 19.3 and 65%, respectively, CH energy consumption by 18.3 and 23.0%, respectively, overall energy consumption by 23.7 and 31.4%, respectively, network lifetime by 22 and 38%, respectively, and the energy*delay metric by 44.85 and 77.54%, respectively. CONCLUSION: DCBRP can be used in any deterministic node deployment applications, such as smart cities or smart agriculture, to reduce energy depletion and prolong the lifetimes of WSNs.
Associations of - genetic polymorphisms with the risk of urologic cancer: a meta-analysis based on 18,415 subjects.
Shi X, Xie X, Xun X … +2 more , Jia Y, Li S
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995011 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a powerful modulator of anti-tumor immune responses. The - promoter region polymorphisms are known to regulate IL-10 production, and thus are thought to be implicated in tumorigenesi...
BACKGROUND: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a powerful modulator of anti-tumor immune responses. The - promoter region polymorphisms are known to regulate IL-10 production, and thus are thought to be implicated in tumorigenesis. Recently, the roles of these polymorphisms in urologic cancer have been extensively studied, with conflicting results. Therefore, we conducted the present meta-analysis to better elucidate the correlations between - polymorphisms and urologic cancer risk. METHODS: Eligible articles were searched in PubMed, Medline, Embase, Scopus and CNKI up to May 2016. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to detect any potential associations between - polymorphisms and the risk of urologic cancer. RESULTS: A total of 22 case-control studies including 8572 patients and 9843 controls were analyzed. The overall meta-analysis results showed that - -592C>A polymorphism was significantly associated with urologic cancer in CA versus AA ( = 0.04, OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76-0.99) and AA versus CC+CA ( = 0.03, OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02-1.31). Subgroup analyses by cancer types suggested there were significant associations between all the three investigated - polymorphisms and bladder cancer. However, subgroup analyses by ethnicity only detected a weak association between - -819C>T and Asian population. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggests that - -592C>A polymorphism may implicate with urologic cancer risk. Besides, promoter region polymorphisms of - may serve as potential biological markers, especially for bladder cancer. Furthermore, - -819C>T polymorphism may contribute to urologic cancer susceptibility in Asians while all the three studied variants of - did not relate to Caucasian urologic cancer predisposition.
bacteremia with coinfection of pneumonia: case report and literature review.
Chen CH, Lee CT, Chang TC
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995010 · Full text
INTRODUCTION: We describe an immunocompromised patient with bacteremia and coinfection of pneumonia. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 75-year-old male was admitted to our hospital complaining of persistent fever with general malais...
INTRODUCTION: We describe an immunocompromised patient with bacteremia and coinfection of pneumonia. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 75-year-old male was admitted to our hospital complaining of persistent fever with general malaise. His medical history showed that he had diabetes mellitus (HbA1C 9.2%). A chest computed tomography (CT) showed left upper lung consolidation . Two sets of blood culture at admission finally showed . Moreover, three transbronchoscopy washing specimen cultures revealed . DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION: The organism was identified using conventional biochemical identification methods, PCR-restriction DNA fragment analysis, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The clinical mycobacterial isolates were identified to the species level by combining Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) with an oligonucleotide microarray to detect the amplicons. CONCLUSION: According to our literature review, our patient's case was the first of a coinfection with and . Prolonged antibiotic treatment and underlying disease control are necessary for this type of patient.
Therapeutic effects of electrical stimulation on overactive bladder: a meta-analysis.
Zhu T, Feng XJ, Zhou Y … +1 more , Wu JX
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995009 · Full text
BACKGROUND: To systematically evaluate the therapeutic effect of electrical stimulation (ES) on overactive bladder (OB). METHOD: We retrieved information by searching databases from PubMed, CBM-disc, The Cochrane Library...
BACKGROUND: To systematically evaluate the therapeutic effect of electrical stimulation (ES) on overactive bladder (OB). METHOD: We retrieved information by searching databases from PubMed, CBM-disc, The Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect (from Elsevier publishers) and Springer publishers up to March 2016. We looked for randomized controlled trials that studied ES in OB treatment with subject headings and keywords using literature searches and manual retrieval. References of included studies were reviewed. Literature was screened independently by two investigators according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. After extracting data and evaluating their quality, meta-analysis was undertaken with RevMan v5.2. RESULTS: Ten randomized controlled trials involving 719 patients were included. Meta-analysis results demonstrated ES to have better effects for improving bladder compliance, reducing residual urine, and decreasing the frequency of enuresis in OB patients compared with the control group. ES elicited significantly better effects for diminishing the maximum detrusor pressure in children than in controls, but there was no significant difference in the maximum detrusor pressure between adults and controls. The therapeutic effect of ES combined with other therapies for increasing the maximum bladder capacity was better compared with other therapies alone. No significant difference was noted between ES alone and other therapies alone. CONCLUSIONS: Based on current evidence, ES has certain effects on OBs. Severe adverse reactions are not observed. ES is safe, efficacious, and worthy of clinical use.
Desflurane inhalation before ischemia increases ischemia-reperfusion-induced vascular leakage in isolated rabbit lungs.
Oshima Y, Sakamoto S, Yamasaki K … +10 more , Mochida S, Funaki K, Moriyama N, Otsuki A, Endo R, Nakasone M, Takahashi S, Harada T, Minami Y, Inagaki Y
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995008 · Full text
BACKGROUND: Isoflurane and sevoflurane protect lungs with ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. We examined the influence of desflurane on IR lung injury using isolated rabbit lungs perfused with a physiological salt solutio...
BACKGROUND: Isoflurane and sevoflurane protect lungs with ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. We examined the influence of desflurane on IR lung injury using isolated rabbit lungs perfused with a physiological salt solution. METHODS: The isolated lungs were divided into three groups: IR, desflurane-treated ischemia-reperfusion (DES-IR), and ventilation/perfusion-continued control (Cont) groups (n = 6 per group). In the DES-IR group, inhalation of desflurane at 1 minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) was conducted in a stable 30-min phase. In the IR and DES-IR groups, ventilation/perfusion was stopped for 75 min after the stable phase. Subsequently, they were resumed. Each lung was placed on a balance, and weighed. Weight changes were measured serially throughout this experiment. The coefficient of filtration (K) was determined immediately before ischemia and 60 min after reperfusion. Furthermore, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected from the right bronchus at the completion of the experiment. After the completion of the experiment, the left lung was dried, and the lung wet-to-dry weight ratio (W/D) was calculated. RESULTS: The K values at 60 min after perfusion were 0.40 ± 0.13 ml/min/mmHg/100 g in the DES-IR group, 0.26 ± 0.07 ml/min/mmHg/100 g in the IR group, and 0.22 ± 0.08 (mean ± SD) ml/mmHg/100 g in the Cont group. In the DES-IR group, the K at 60 min after the start of reperfusion was significantly higher than in the other groups. In the DES-IR group, W/D was significantly higher than in the Cont group. In the DES-IR group, the BALF concentrations of nitric oxide metabolites were significantly higher than in the other groups. In the DES-IR group, the total amount of vascular endothelial growth factor in BALF was significantly higher than in the Cont group. CONCLUSIONS: The pre-inhalation of desflurane at 1 MAC exacerbates pulmonary IR injury in isolated/perfused rabbit lungs.
Direct new oral anticoagulants: follow-up, guidelines and bleeding complications in general practice-a survey of Swiss general internal medicine practitioners.
Sauter TC, Melis C, Hautz WE … +2 more , Ricklin ME, Exadaktylos AK
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995007 · Full text
BACKGROUND: The present study investigated how much Swiss general internal medicine practitioners (GPs) know about new direct oral anticoagulants (NOACs), particularly the relevant guidelines, follow-up tests, dosing adj...
BACKGROUND: The present study investigated how much Swiss general internal medicine practitioners (GPs) know about new direct oral anticoagulants (NOACs), particularly the relevant guidelines, follow-up tests, dosing adjustments, indications and complications. We conducted a paper-based survey of GPs, performed in Bern, Switzerland. Our questionnaire assessed the physicians' preference for NOACs rather than vitamin K antagonists (VKA), prevalence and choice of NOAC, clinical follow-up including follow-up blood testing, and bleeding complications. RESULTS: 53 GPs participated in our pilot investigation. They treated 32.7% ± 19 of their patients requiring oral anticoagulation with NOACs. New patients who had started oral anticoagulation received NOACs from 49 GPs (92.5%) but most GPs would not switch patients from existing VKA therapy to NOACs. Clinical controls are scheduled by a majority of GPs (67.9%) at least every 3 months; creatinine and haemoglobin are monitored by most GPs (51 (96.2%) and 39 (73.6%), respectively). In the preceding 2 years, GPs had seen 1.9 ± 2.87 bleeding complications in patients with NOACs. 0.5 ± 0.95 (range 0-5) of these required hospital treatment. CONCLUSION: NOACs are broadly accepted by investigated Swiss GPs as the first choice for patients newly requiring oral anticoagulation. This was in preference to VKAs and especially if recommended by a haematologist or cardiologist. As, in our population, only about two-thirds of GPs adhere to recommendations on clinical and blood test follow-ups, further efforts to implement follow-up guidelines seem necessary. Further research in a large representative GP population is recommended; this should compare NOACs and VKAs. Bleeding complications were rare in our population and could mostly be handled without hospital admission.
Factors affecting RFID adoption in the agricultural product distribution industry: empirical evidence from China.
Shi P, Yan B
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995006 · Full text
We conducted an exploratory investigation of factors influencing the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) methods in the agricultural product distribution industry. Through a literature review and field rese...
We conducted an exploratory investigation of factors influencing the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) methods in the agricultural product distribution industry. Through a literature review and field research, and based on the technology-organization-environment (TOE) theoretical framework, this paper analyzes factors influencing RFID adoption in the agricultural product distribution industry in reference to three contexts: technological, organizational, and environmental contexts. An empirical analysis of the TOE framework was conducted by applying structural equation modeling based on actual data from a questionnaire survey on the agricultural product distribution industry in China. The results show that employee resistance and uncertainty are not supported by the model. Technological compatibility, perceived effectiveness, organizational size, upper management support, trust between enterprises, technical knowledge, competitive pressure and support from the Chinese government, which are supported by the model, have significantly positive effects on RFID adoption. Meanwhile, organizational size has the strongest positive effect, while competitive pressure levels have the smallest effect. Technological complexities and costs have significantly negative effects on RFID adoption, with cost being the most significantly negative influencing factor. These research findings will afford enterprises in the agricultural products supply chain with a stronger understanding of the factors that influence RFID adoption in the agricultural product distribution industry. In addition, these findings will help enterprises remain aware of how these factors affect RFID adoption and will thus help enterprises make more accurate and rational decisions by promoting RFID application in the agricultural product distribution industry.
Genetic algorithm based hybrid approach to solve fuzzy multi-objective assignment problem using exponential membership function.
Dhodiya JM, Tailor AR
Springerplus · 2016 · PMID 27995005 · Full text
This paper presents a genetic algorithm based hybrid approach for solving a fuzzy multi-objective assignment problem (FMOAP) by using an exponential membership function in which the coefficient of the objective function...
This paper presents a genetic algorithm based hybrid approach for solving a fuzzy multi-objective assignment problem (FMOAP) by using an exponential membership function in which the coefficient of the objective function is described by a triangular possibility distribution. Moreover, in this study, fuzzy judgment was classified using -level sets for the decision maker (DM) to simultaneously optimize the optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic scenarios of fuzzy objective functions. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a numerical example is provided with a data set from a realistic situation. This paper concludes that the developed hybrid approach can manage FMOAP efficiently and effectively with an effective output to enable the DM to take a decision.
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