Measurement Properties of Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment for Children Aged 9-12 Years Using Rasch Analysis.

The Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA) was recently widely used to assess fundamental motor skills in children. Although the CAMSA is reported to be reliable and valid, its measurement properties are not clear. This study aimed to examine the measurement properties of the CAMSA in a sample of Chinese children using Rasch analysis. The study sample was from 1,094 children aged 9-12 years in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province. Descriptive data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 software, and the dichotomous data were analyzed by Winsteps version 4.5.4 and Facets 3.67.1 software performing Rasch analysis. The present study investigated CAMSA measurement characteristics by Rasch analysis, including the reliability of the rating instrument, unidimensionality, item-fit statistics, and differential item functioning (DIF). Inter-rater reliability and retest reliability showed that the CAMSA had a good internal consistency. Rasch analysis indicated that the CAMSA was unidimensional, locally independent, and had a good item-fit-statistic. Additionally, the CAMSA displayed a good fit for the item separation index (12.50 > 2.0), as well as for item reliability (0.99 > 0.90). However, the item difficulty of the CAMSA did not fit well with personal ability, and a significant DIF was found across genders. In the Chinese children sample test, the CAMSA demonstrated appropriate goodness-of-fit validity and rater reliability. Thus, future research will explore item difficulty and person ability fit, as well as DIF across genders.

Increased energy expenditure and activated ß3-AR-cAMP-PKA signaling pathway in the interscapular brown adipose tissue of 6-OHDA-induced Parkinson's disease model rats.

To explore the possible mechanism of weight loss in Parkinson's disease (PD). Bilateral injections of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into substantia nigra (SN) were performed to induce the PD model rats. The rotarod test, food intake, body weight, and interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) weight were recorded 6 weeks postoperation. HE staining was performed to observe the morphology of multilocular adipose cells in IBAT. Immunohistochemistry and western blot were used to determine the protein levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the SN, and the levels of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), phosphorylated-hormone sensitive lipase (p-HSL), HSL, TH, ß3-adrenergic receptor (ß3-AR), cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), and protein kinase A (PKA) in IBAT. After treatment with 6-OHDA for 6 weeks, 6-OHDA rats exhibited decreased TH expression in SN accompanied with shortened staying time on the rotating rod. This motor impairment paralleled with no significant alteration in body mass, IBAT weight, and food intake until the end of the experimental protocol. However, the decreasing diameter of the single fat vesicle in IBAT was observed in the 6-OHDA group. Meanwhile, compared with the control group, the protein expression of UCP1, PGC-1α, p-HSL, TH, ß3-AR, cAMP, and PKA in IBAT were increased significantly in the 6-OHDA group, whereas no obvious change in the expression of HSL. The present study suggested an increased energy expenditure and activation of the ß3-AR-cAMP-PKA signaling pathway in the IBAT after the destruction of the dopamine system in the SN of the rat.

Mediastinal hemangiomas: Spectrum of CT and MRI findings - retrospective case series study and systematic review of the literature.

PURPOSE: To analyze the imaging manifestations of mediastinal hemangioma (MH) by CT and MRI to aid in its successful diagnosis and preoperative evaluation. METHODS: Seventeen cases of MH diagnosed by histopathology combined with CT and MRI were retrospectively collected; and their CT and MRI features, including the lesions' site and range, shape, size, margin, density or signal, enhancement pattern, mass-cardiovascular interface, mass-pulmonary interface, and other characteristics were evaluated. RESULTS: The anterior, middle, and posterior mediastinum were involved in 13, 13, and 8 cases, respectively. The masses size varied from 20 to 233 mm. Irregular, dumbbell-like, and oval masses were found in 13, 2, and 2 cases, respectively, while with pampiniform growth in 16 cases and expansive growth in 1 case. Mixed density, homogeneous density solid masses, and heterogeneous density masses with dominant fat were found in 9, 5, and 3 cases, respectively, showing mild or significant enhancement in aortic phase while no or mild enhancement in pulmonary artery phase. Draining veins were found in 16 cases and feeding arteries in 10 cases. Phleboliths were detected in 10 cases, splenic hemangiomas in 6 cases, and left lateral-chest-wall hemangioma in 1 case. In MRI sequences, mixed signal was found on T1WI and heterogeneous hypersignal with nodular or linear hyposignal on T2WI in 5 cases, mild or significant enhancement in 4 cases, draining veins in 2 cases, and no feeding arteries or phleboliths were seen. CONCLUSION: Presence of phleboliths, pampiniform growth pattern, and aberrant draining veins are relatively specific characteristics in diagnosing MH.

Assessment of cerebral infarction after transient cerebral ischemic attack by ABCD2 score combined with the position of intracranial vascular stenosis.

This study aims to investigate the value of the ABCD score combined with the position of the offending vessel stenosis in predicting the risk of transient ischemic attack (TIA) to develop into cerebral infarction.The ABCD score and head magnetic resonance imaging + magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) results of 192 patients with TIA were retrospectively analyzed. With the 7th day as the endpoint time, these patients were divided into 3 groups, according to ABCD scores: low-risk group (n = 105), moderate-risk group (n = 60), and high-risk group (n = 27). Blood vessels were screened using head MRA results, and patients were accordingly divided into 2 groups: proximal vascular stenosis group (n = 71) and nonproximal vascular stenosis group (n = 171). Then, the association of the position of the intracranial vascular stenosis and ABCD score with short-term prognosis was analyzed.Based on the ABCD score, the incidence of cerebral infarction after 1 week was significantly higher in the high-risk group (85.7%) than in the moderate-risk group (16.7%) and low-risk group (1.9%), and the differences were statistically significant (P < .05). When the ABCD score was ≥4 points, the incidence of cerebral infarction after 1 week was significantly higher in the proximal vascular stenosis group (59.1%) than in the nonproximal vascular stenosis group (30.8%), and the difference was statistically significant (P < .05). When the ABCD score was <4 points, the incidence of cerebral infarction after 1 week in the proximal stenosis group (2%) was not significantly different from that in the nonproximal stenosis group (1.9%, P > .05).The ABCD score combined with proximal offending vessel stenosis can improve the short-term prediction of cerebral infarction in patients with TIA.

Comparative Assessment of Computational Methods for Free Energy Calculations of Ionic Hydration.

Experimental observations for ionic hydration free energies are highly debated mainly due to the ambiguous absolute hydration free energy of proton, ΔGhyd*(H+). Hydration free energies (HFEs) of the 112 singly charged ions in the Minnesota solvation database were predicted by six methods with explicit and implicit solvent models, namely, thermodynamic integration (TI), energy representation module (ERmod), three-dimensional reference interaction site model (3D-RISM), and continuum solvation models based on the quantum mechanical charge density (SMD) and on the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) and generalized Born (GB) theories. Taking the solvent Galvani potential of water into account, the resulting real HFEs from TI calculations for the generalized Amber force field (GAFF) modeled ions best match the experiments based on ΔGhyd*(H+) = -262.4 kcal/mol (Randles Trans. Faraday Soc . 1956 , 52 , 1573 - 1581 ), in agreement with our previous work on charged amino acids (Zhang et al. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2017 , 8 , 2705 - 2712 ). The examined computational methods show an accuracy of ∼7 kcal/mol for the GAFF-modeled ions, except for SMD with a higher accuracy of ∼4 kcal/mol. A biased deficiency in modeling anionic compounds by GAFF is observed with a larger standard deviation (SD) of 9 kcal/mol than that for cations (SD ∼ 4 kcal/mol). The relatively cheap ERmod and 3D-RISM methods reproduce TI results with good accuracy, although ERmod yields a systematic underestimation for cations by 9 kcal/mol; PB and GB generate relative (but not absolute) HFEs comparable to the TI predictions. Computational accuracy is found to be more limited by the accuracy of force fields rather than the models themselves.

[Pollution Characteristics, Source Analysis and Potential Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soils Surrounding a Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Plant in Shanghai].

The contents of ten heavy metals (As, Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni, Zn, Ti, Mn, and Hg) were determined in the surface soils surrounding a municipal solid waste incineration plant in Shanghai using atomic spectroscopy. The spatial distribution and sources of the detected heavy metals were studied by enrichment factor and multivariate statistical and spatial interpolation analyses. In addition, their potential ecological risk was assessed. The results showed that all heavy metals, except Hg and As, were detected with mean contents ranging from 0.399 to 4220 mg·kg-1. The mean contents of Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni, Zn, and Mn were higher than their respective background values in Shanghai. In particular, the mean content of Cd was 2.9 times its background value. The results of the Pearson's correlation, principle component, enrichment factor, and spatial distribution analyses of these heavy metals indicated that Ti, Mn, and Ni primarily originated from natural sources, while Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn originated from industrial manufacturing, combustion, and traffic emissions. The potential ecological risk assessment showed that soils surrounding the municipal solid waste incineration plant suffered from a moderate-level risk. The mean value of the potential ecological risk index of these detected heavy metals was 108.92, of which Cd contributed as high as 79.63%, deserving much attention.

[Distributions, Sources and Pollution Assessment of Hg in Sediment of Douhe Reservoir in Tangshan City].

Sediment cores from Douhe reservoir in Tangshan City were sampled in August 2013, in order to evaluate the mercury (Hg) pollution degree and its possible sources. Agriculture soils surrounding the Douhe reservoir and sediments from an upstream reservoir (Daheiting) were also collected. Total mercury (THg), methylmercury (MeHg), dissolved mercury in pore water (DHg) and organic matter (OM) in sediment of Douhe reservoir were analyzed, while, only THg in the agriculture soils and upstream reservoir sediments was determined. Finally, the geoaccumulation index method was applied to evaluate the Hg pollution status in soils and reservoir sediments. The results showed that THg content in sediment of Douhe reservoir ranged from 19 to 97 ng·g-1. dw, MeHg (dw) from 0.02 to 1.27 ng·g-1, and the contents of both THg and MeHg were higher in the upper layers than the deeper layers, indicating that Hg in sediments was increasing in recent years by the exogenetic loadings. THg (dw) in soils offshore the Douhe reservoir, which is close to a large coal-fired power plant, averaged at 22 ng·g-1. Among the three sediment cores of Douhe reservoir, the central point had the highest THg, followed by the western site, and the eastern site had the lowest THg. While, THg content (dw) in sediments of Daheiting reservoir was much higher, with a mean of 176 ng·g-1. Combining all the above information, we concluded that Hg in Douhe reservoir was mainly derived from the Daheiting reservoir and the mercury atmospheric deposition from the nearby coal-fired power plant contributed a less content. THg and MeHg in the sediments of Douhe reservoir were positively correlated with OM, indicating that OM in sediments had good ability of adsorbing THg and MeHg, and also played an important role in Hg methylation. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) showed that the Hg pollution status deceased in this order:central of Daheting, Daba of Daheting, central of Douhe, western of Douhe, eastern of Douhe, soils surrounding Douhe. Central and western sites in Douhe belonged to moderate pollution and the eastern site belonged to slight pollution. While, sediments of Daheiting reservoir, affected by the iron ore mining activities, were in the moderate and strong pollution status.

Policy and Practice Model of Public-Private Partnership in Public Hospitals during the New Medical Reform Period.

Purpose: Since the beginning of the new health care reform in 2009, the state has illustrated the top design and health care improvement strategy of "encouraging social capital to participate in the reform of public hospitals", in accordance with the program's general objective. All areas have been explored on this matter and the results obtained are very interesting, not to mention the acquisition of significant experience. At present, the existing business models in China are mainly the following: Rebuild-Operate-Transfer (ROT), franchise business model, Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model, mixed ownership model and business insurance model. This paper introduces a variety of alternative models, and provides a simple analysis of the advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, for the reform of public hospitals, the government shares should go into franchise mode or mixed ownership, and all property rights should be transferred to the government to ensure the conservation and proliferation of state-owned assets.

Detection of H. pylori antibody profile in serum by protein array.

AIM: To detect multiple H. pylori antibodies in serum samples of individuals who carry H. pylori by protein array. METHODS: Recombinant H. pylori antigens, urease B subunit (UreB), vacuolating toxin A (VacA) and cytotoxin associated gene A protein (CagA), were prepared and immobilized in matrixes on nitrocellulose membrane by robotics to bind the specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in serum. Staphylococcus protein A (SPA) labeled by colloid gold was used to integrate the immuno-complex and gave red color signal. The scanner based on charge-coupled device (CCD) could collect the image signal and convert it into digital signal. RESULTS: When human IgG was printed on the membrane in increasing concentrations and incubated with immunogold, a linear dose response curve was obtained and the detection limit for IgG was about 0.025 ng. The cutoff values, which were defined as the mean grey level plus 3 times of standard deviation, were 27.183, 28.546 and 27.402, for anti-UreB IgG, anti-CagA IgG and anti-VacA IgG, respectively, as 400 human serum samples with negative H. pylori antibodies were detected by the protein array. When 180 serum samples from patients in hospital were employed for detection of IgG against UreB, CagA and VacA, the sensitivity of the protein array was 93.4%, 95.4%, 96.0%, and the specificity was 94.8%, 94.4% and 97.5%, respectively, as compared with the results obtained by ELISA. The assay also showed high reproducibility, uniformity and stability, and the results were available within 30 min. CONCLUSION: The protein array is a very practical method for rapid detection of multiple antibodies in serum samples. It is especially useful for large scale epidemiological investigation of the infection of H. pylori.

Mutational analysis of the tyrosine phosphatome in colorectal cancers.

Tyrosine phosphorylation, regulated by protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) and kinases (PTKs), is important in signaling pathways underlying tumorigenesis. A mutational analysis of the tyrosine phosphatase gene superfamily in human cancers identified 83 somatic mutations in six PTPs (PTPRF, PTPRG, PTPRT, PTPN3, PTPN13, PTPN14), affecting 26% of colorectal cancers and a smaller fraction of lung, breast, and gastric cancers. Fifteen mutations were nonsense, frameshift, or splice-site alterations predicted to result in truncated proteins lacking phosphatase activity. Five missense mutations in the most commonly altered PTP (PTPRT) were biochemically examined and found to reduce phosphatase activity. Expression of wild-type but not a mutant PTPRT in human cancer cells inhibited cell growth. These observations suggest that the mutated tyrosine phosphatases are tumor suppressor genes, regulating cellular pathways that may be amenable to therapeutic intervention.