The impact of perioperative nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the postoperative outcomes of spinal surgery: a meta-analysis of 23 randomized controlled trials.

In recent years, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs), which are considered to affect the prognosis of spinal surgery, have been widely used in perioperative analgesia in spinal surgery, but the relationship between these two factors remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of perioperative use of NSAIDs on the prognosis of patients treated with spinal surgery. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library for relevant articles published on or before July 14, 2023. We used a random-effect model for the meta-analysis to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Sensitivity analyses were conducted to analyze stability. A total of 23 randomized clinical trials including 1457 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that NSAIDs were significantly associated with postoperative morphine use (mg) (SMD = -0.90, 95% CI -1.12 to -0.68) and postoperative pain (SMD = -0.71, 95% CI -0.85 to -0.58). These results were further confirmed by the trim-and-fill procedure and leave-one-out sensitivity analyses. The current study shows that perioperative use of NSAIDs appears to be an important factor in reducing postoperative pain and morphine use in patients undergoing spinal surgery. However, well-designed, high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are still required.

Discovery of flavone-derivatives as the new skeleton of transient receptor potential vanilloid 3 channel antagonists.

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 3 (TRPV3) channel is a temperature-sensitive and Ca2+-permeable nonselective cation channel, which is abundantly expressed in skin keratinocyte and plays an important role in skin homeostasis and repair. However, only a few TRPV3 inhibitors were reported. Few selective and potent modulators of the TRPV3 channel have hindered the progress of the investigation and clinical application. TRPV3 channel research still faces challenges and requires the new inhibitors. Flavonoids are a kind of natural compounds with various biological and pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory and anti allergic effects, which is associated with some physiological effects mediated by TRPV3 channel. Herein, our group designed and synthesized a range of flavone derivatives, and investigated their inhibitory properties on the human TRPV3 channel by electrophysiology technique. Then, we identified a new potent TRPV3 antagonist 2d with IC50 of 0.62 µM. It also showed good selectivity on TRPV1, TRPV4, TRPA1 and TRPM8.

Thermal Calibration of Triaxial Accelerometer for Tilt Measurement.

The application of MEMS accelerometers used to measure inclination is constrained by their temperature dependence, and each accelerometer needs to be calibrated individually to increase stability and accuracy. This paper presents a calibration and thermal compensation method for triaxial accelerometers that aims to minimize cost and processing time while maintaining high accuracy. First, the number of positions to perform the calibration procedure is optimized based on the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, and then, based on this optimized calibration number, thermal compensation is performed based on the least squares method, which is necessary for environments with large temperature variations, since calibration parameters change at different temperatures. The calibration procedures and algorithms were experimentally validated on marketed accelerometers. Based on the optimized calibration method, the calibrated results achieved nearly 100 times improvement. Thermal drift calibration experiments on the triaxial accelerometer show that the thermal compensation scheme in this paper can effectively reduce drift in the temperature range of -40 °C to 60 °C. The temperature drifts of x- and y-axes are reduced from -13.2 and 11.8 mg to -0.9 and -1.1 mg, respectively. The z-axis temperature drift is reduced from -17.9 to 1.8 mg. We have conducted various experiments on the proposed calibration method and demonstrated its capacity to calibrate the sensor frame error model (SFEM) parameters. This research proposes a new low-cost and efficient strategy for increasing the practical applicability of triaxial accelerometers.

Sliding Window Dynamic Time-Series Warping-Based Ultrasonic Guided Wave Temperature Compensation and Defect Monitoring Method for Turnout Rail Foot.

Temperature changes are a major challenge in outdoor guided wave structural health monitoring of rails. Temperature variations greatly impact the waveform of guided wave signals, making it challenging to diagnose and characterize defects. Traditional temperature compensation methods, such as signal stretch and scale transform, are restricted to use in regular structures, such as plates and pipes. To solve the temperature compensation problem in long rails with serious mode conversion and complex structure echo, we propose a temperature compensation and defect monitoring method, namely, sliding window dynamic time-series warping (SWDTW), which overcomes the challenges of mass computation and overcompensation of dynamic time-series warping (DTW). The basic idea of SWDTW is to utilize sliding windows to accelerate the computation and identify defects from subsequence scales. Then, an index, window subsequence Teager energy (WSTE), is used to indicate the local abnormality of guided wave signals, and a sliding window net (SWnet) is devised to monitor the occurrence of defects automatically. Outdoor monitoring of turnout rails showed that the proposed method can effectively reduce the temperature noise and recognize an artificial defect with 1.16% and 0.36% cross-sectional change rates (CSCRs) on the switch and stock rails, respectively, at different temperatures; moreover, the defect signals processed by SWDTW showed better defect identification performance than those processed by scale transform and DTW.

Theoretical and experimental investigation of circumferential guided waves in orthotropic annuli.

The fiber composite materials fabricated by stacking the lamina structure obtain increasing attention in the industry, and at the same time, damage analysis is essential for safe operation. A proposed way to detect defects such as debonding and delamination is to induce circumferential guided waves. Accurate determination of the dispersion characteristics and wave fields is a prerequisite for using acoustic guided waves. The aim of this work is to provide such an accurate dispersion results in an arbitrarily thick cylindrically orthotropic homogeneous cylindrical shell of uniform thickness. Compared with the traditional SAFE method, the proposed method, which combines the two numerical methods, namely Floquet Boundary Condition (Floquet BC) Method and Sweeping Frequency Finite Element Modeling (SFFEM) method has obvious advantages. Through Floquet BC method, a theoretical result can be easily obtained without tedious code writing. Then SFFEM helps to verify the theoretical result in an experimental way. Besides, the slight gap between the theoretical and experimental results works as a basis for calibrating the elastic constants of composite materials provided in the manual. Simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics FE software supported by both methods and experiments by the latter have been carried out in this work. The calculated phase velocity dispersion curves demonstrated the efficiency of those two methods. The developed method can be adapted to other complex pipeline structures to extract circumferential guided wave dispersion characteristics by both simulation and experimental measurements.

High-Sensitivity Ultrasonic Guided Wave Monitoring of Pipe Defects Using Adaptive Principal Component Analysis.

Ultrasonic guided wave monitoring is regularly used for monitoring the structural health of industrial pipes, but small defects are difficult to identify owing to the influence of the environment and pipe structure on the guided wave signal. In this paper, a high-sensitivity monitoring algorithm based on adaptive principal component analysis (APCA) for defects of pipes is proposed, which calculates the sensitivity index of the signals and optimizes the process of selecting principal components in principal component analysis (PCA). Furthermore, we established a comprehensive damage index (K) by extracting the subspace features of signals to display the existence of defects intuitively. The damage monitoring algorithm was tested by the dataset collected from several pipe types, and the experimental results show that the APCA method can monitor the hole defect of 0.075% cross section loss ratio (SLR) on the straight pipe, 0.15% SLR on the spiral pipe, and 0.18% SLR on the bent pipe, which is superior to conventional methods such as optimal baseline subtraction (OBS) and average Euclidean distance (AED). The results of the damage index curve obtained by the algorithm clearly showed the change trend of defects; moreover, the contribution rate of the K index roughly showed the location of the defects.

All-vacuum deposited and thermally stable perovskite solar cells with F4-TCNQ/CuPc hole transport layer.

Hole transporting layers (HTLs) play a crucial role in the realization of efficient and stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) is a promising HTL owing to its thermal stability and favorable band alignment with the perovskite absorber. However, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs with a CuPc HTL is still lagging behind highly efficient solar cells. Herein, a p-type tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ) is employed as an interlayer between the perovskite and CuPc HTL in all-vacuum deposited PSCs. The F4-TCNQ interlayer improves the conductivity of both MAPbI3 and CuPc, reduces the shunt pathway and facilitates an efficient photoexcited holes transfer from the valance band of the MAPbI3 to the LUMO of the F4-TCNQ. Consequently, the best solar cell device with an F4-TCNQ interlayer achieved a PCE of 13.03% with a remarkable improvement in fill factor. Moreover, the device showed superior stability against thermal stress at 85 °C over 250 h and retained ∼95% of its initial efficiency. This work demonstrates a significant step towards all-vacuum deposited perovskite solar cells with high thermal stability.

Bcl2 like protein-12 suppresses Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Immune dysregulation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Bcl2 like protein 12 (Bcl2L12) has the ability of immune regulation. This study aims to investigate the role of Bcl2L12 in interfering with Foxp3+ regulatory T cell (Treg) development and function in RA patients. In this study, RA patients were recruited in RA clinic. The peripheral blood samples were collected from RA patients and healthy (HA) subjects. Treg status was analyzed by a variety of immune assessing approaches. We observed that the frequency of Tregs in RA patients was significantly lower than that in HA subjects. The expression of Bcl2L12 was detected in CD4+ T cells, which was markedly higher in the RA group than that in HA group. Naive CD4+ T cells from RA patients were refractory to develop as Tregs. Inhibition of Bcl2L12 in CD4+ T cells from RA patients promoted Treg generation. Tregs isolated from RA patients showed functional defects, which could be restored by knocking down of Bcl2L12. In conclusion, Bcl2L12 plays a role in suppressing Treg development and function in RA patients. Inhibition of Bcl2L12 may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of RA.

A Guided Wave Transducer with Sprayed Magnetostrictive Powder Coating for Monitoring of Aluminum Conductor Steel-Reinforced Cables.

Aluminum conductor steel-reinforced (ACSR) cables are typically used in overhead transmission lines, requiring stringent non-destructive testing owing to the severe conditions they face. Ultrasonic guided wave inspection provides promising online monitoring of the wire breakage of cables with the advantages of high sensitivity, long-range inspection, and full cross-sectional coverage. It is a very popular method to generate and receive guided waves using magnetostrictive and piezoelectric transducers. However, uniformly coupling the acoustic energy excited by transducers into multi-wire structures is always a challenge in the field application of guided waves. Long-term field application of piezoelectric transducers is limited due to the small coupling surface area, localized excitation, and couplant required. Conventional magnetostrictive transducers for steel strand inspection are based on the magnetostrictive effect of the material itself. Two factors affect the transducing performance of the transducers on ACSR cables. On one hand, there is a non-magnetostrictive effect in aluminum wires. On the other hand, the magnetostriction of the innermost steel wires is too weak to generate guided waves. The bias magnetic field is attenuated by the outer layers of aluminum wires. In this paper, an alternative sprayed magnetostrictive powder coating (SMPC) transducer was developed for guided wave generation and detection in ACSR cables. The Fe83Ga17 alloy powder with large magnetostriction was sprayed uniformly on the surfaces of certain sections of the outermost aluminum wires where the transducer would be installed. Experimental investigations were carried out to generate and receive the most commonly used L(0,1) guided waves for wire breakage detection at frequencies of 50 and 100 kHz. The results demonstrate that the discernable reflected waves of the cable end and an artificial defect of three-wire breakage (5.5% reduction in the cable's cross-sectional area) were received by the transducer with SMPC, which was impossible for the transducer without SMPC. This method makes long-term and online monitoring of ACSR cables feasible due to the high coupling efficiency and good structural surface adaptability.

Ultrasonic guided wave focusing in waveguides with constant irregular cross-sections.

As essential components of a high-speed railway system, switch rails can be easily damaged by sophisticated operating conditions. Therefore, precise online detection for switch rails is necessary. Methods based on ultrasonic guided waves are ideal candidates for structural integrity of the switch rails, which are natural waveguides with irregular cross-sections. However, energy decentralization in the wave propagation severely restricts detectability. Phased array systems have been developed and implemented to steer and focus acoustic energy in waveguides of ordinary cross-sections such as pipes and plates. This paper proposes a method for ultrasonic guided wave focusing in waveguides with constant irregular cross-sections. We analyzed the characteristics of the guided waves generated by partial loadings based on a semi-analytical finite element method (SAFEM). An algorithm was developed for calculating the amplitude weights and time delays required to modulate excitation signals. Two coefficients were defined to evaluate the wave focusing results, namely the half area coefficient (HAC) and half energy coefficient (HEC). Numerical simulations to verify the proposed method were carried out for a switch rail base with a constant irregular cross-section. The results demonstrate that the guided acoustic beam has been effectively steered to focus at the pre-determined locations with enhanced acoustic wave energy. Furthermore, the influence of various factors on guided wave focusing was studied. Excitation signals of low center frequencies with narrow bandwidths are recommended for ideal focusing results.

Helical comb magnetostrictive patch transducers for inspecting spiral welded pipes using flexural guided waves.

A wavefront analysis indicates that a flexural wave propagates at a helix angle with respect to the pipe axis. The expression for calculation of the helix angle for each flexural mode is given, and the helix angle dispersion curves for flexural modes are calculated. According to the new understanding of flexural guided waves, a helical comb magnetostrictive patch transducer (HCMPT) is proposed for selectively exciting a single predominant flexural torsional guided wave in a pipe and inspecting spiral welded pipes using flexural waves. A HCMPT contains a pre-magnetized magnetostrictive patch that is helically coupled with the outer surface of a pipe, and a novel compound comb coil that is wrapped around the helical magnetostrictive patch. The proposed wideband HCMPT possesses the direction control ability. A verification experiment indicates that flexural torsional mode T(3,1) at center frequency f=64kHz is effectively actuated by a HCMPT with 13-degree helix angle. Flexural torsional modes T(N,1) with circumferential order N equals 1-5 are selected to inspect a seamless steel pipe, artificial defects are effectively detected by the proposed HCMPT. A 20-degree HCMPT is adopted to inspect a spiral welded pipe, an artificial notch with cross section loss CSL=2.7% is effectively detected by using flexural waves.

[Investigation of noise hazards and hearing status of workers in outdoor quarries].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the noise hazards in open quarries and to provide a basis for further control of noise hazards. METHODS: An investigation was performed during 2010 to 2011 among all open quarries in Deqing County of Zhejiang Province, China. The investigation included basic information of the quarries, the occupational health situation and noise intensity at the workplace, and the hearing loss of workers exposed to noise in quarry enterprises. The hearing test results were evaluated based on the Diagnostic criteria of occupational noise-induced hearing loss (GBZ 49-2007). RESULTS: A total of 25 enterprises with open quarries were investigated, of which only 30.4% (17/56) workplaces met the national standard. The median noise level was 92.5 dB (A). Fifty-four (10.6%) out of 508 workers in the 25 enterprises were diagnosed with binaural hearing loss in the initial physical examination, with 18.3% (93/508) under surveillance. The rate of normal hearing among crushing workers, mechanists, drilling workers, and blasting workers ranged between 27.6% and 41.4%, which was significantly lower than that among workers exposed to slight noise hazards (80.0%) or other workers (63.7%) (P < 0.05). With increasing working years, the binaural hearing loss of crushing workers became serious. CONCLUSION: Serious occupational noise hazards existed in most jobs in open quarries, with crushing workers, mechanists, drilling workers, and blasting workers most seriously jeopardized. Among crushing workers, those working in the first-line or unprotected second?line positions suffered more than the others. Further measures should be taken by the supervision department and the enterprises to control the noise hazards in open quarries.

Mismatch of AO anatomically shaped distal humeral plate with humeral shaft forward flexion angulation in adult Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: LCP extra-articular distal humerus plate (LCPEA) designed by AO has been introduced as an anatomically shaped plate that improves the results of surgical fixation in extra-articular distal humeral shaft fractures. However, no study analyzed whether LCPEA matches humeral shaft forward flexion angulation (FFA). OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to evaluate the morphological discrepancies between LCPEA and the humeral shaft FFA in Chinese cadaveric dried adult humeri and to propose a further design of pre-contoured plates to accommodate the FFA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-four Chinese cadaveric dried adult humeri were used for this study. An eight-hole LCPEA was applied to the posterior aspect of the distal humerus according to the contour. Mismatches between the bone and the plate were recorded. The distance between the inner surface of the plate and the underlying humeral dorsal cortex was measured at the sites of mismatch. The humeral shaft FFA was measured from the intersection angle between tangent lines placed on the dorsal aspect of the 1/3 distal humeral shaft and the dorsal ridge of the 2/3 proximal humeral shaft. The location of the apex of the FFA was determined by measuring the distance from the most distal point of trochlea of humerus to the point of intersection of the FFA tangent lines. The distance was defined as forward flexion distance (FFD). RESULTS: Mismatch was found at the level of proximal 3-6 holes of LCPEA with an average distance of 6.9 ± 3.1 mm (range 2.3-14.0 mm) at the tip of the plate. The FFA was present in all specimens. The average FFA was 8.2° ± 2.2° (range 4°-13°), the average FFD was 99.9 ± 9.6 mm (range 79.2-117.9 mm), and the average ratio of FFD to humerus length was 0.33 ± 0.03 (range 0.27-0.39). CONCLUSIONS: A rather consistent pattern of mismatch was found at the proximal part of LCPEA. An attempt to fit the plate to the bone at this level may cause a gap of the fracture at the opposite cortex. The main reason for the mismatch is the existence of the humeral shaft FFA. LCPEA is usually made a bend of about 8° between the fourth and the fifth dynamic-compression portion of the combination hole in the distal-to-proximal direction.

[Prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus infection and its phylogenetic features among mother-teenager pairs].

OBJECTIVE: Prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) was investigated in a paired mother-teenager population and HBV S gene variation including overt and occult HBV, was determined. METHODS: A follow-up study based on an initial survey of 135 mother-teenager pairs was carried out through collection of questionnaires and blood samples HBsAg were detected by ELISA method, viral load by PCR amplification and HBV S gene by phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: 102 pairs of subjects were followed-up. Blood samples from 94 mothers and 101 children were collected. OBI prevalence in mothers was 10.0% (6/60), significantly higher than 2.0% (2/101) in teenagers. Medians of viral load were 399.9 IU/ml and 247.6 IU/ml in overt and occult HBV strains, but without significant difference. 1 occult HBV strain belonged to genotype B with serotype adw while the other 7 were genotype C with serotype adr. 15 of the overt HBV strains belonged to genotype B with serotype adw and the other 8 were genotype C with serotype adr. Proportions of genotype-C strains were significantly higher in occult HBV strains than in overt HBV strains. CONCLUSION: OBI was seen in teenage-mother population.

Possible regulatory role of Snail in NF-κB-mediated changes in E-cadherin in gastric cancer.

In the present study, we aimed to investigate the involvement of Snail in NF-κB-mediated changes of E-cadherin in gastric cancer. A total of 189 human gastric cancer tissues, and 32 normal gastric mucosal tissues were used to determine the expression levels of NF-κB, E-cadherin and Snail by immunohistochemistry. The correlation between the expression levels and patient clinicopathological data was analyzed. Human gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 was treated with the NF-κB inhibitor PDTC, and the expression levels of E-cadherin and Snail were investigated by qPCR and western blot. NF-κB, E-cadherin and Snail were all detected in normal gastric mucosa and cancer tissues of various differentiation statuses. However, the expression patterns of each protein were different. Strong expression of E-cadherin was detected in normal gastric mucosa, whereas its expression gradually declined in gastric cancer tissues, with weak expression observed in poorly differentiated gastric cancer tissues. In contrast, weak NF-κB and Snail expressions were present in normal gastric mucosa, while their expression levels gradually increased in gastric cancer tissues, with the strongest expression detected in poorly differentiated gastric cancers. The expression of E-cadherin was inversely correlated with that of Snail and NF-κB in the tissues tested. Blockade of NF-κB using its inhibitor PDTC led to a time-dependent reduction in Snail but a time-dependent increase in E-cadherin in SGC7901 cells. These results suggest that in human gastric cancer, loss of E-cadherin may be mediated through NF-κB-induced Snail upregulation. Further studies may reveal whether targeting the NF-κB-Snail-E-cadherin axis could be a useful approach for combating gastric cancer.

[Comparative investigation of hearing injury in workers exposed to punching machine noise and to steady state noise].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the difference of effects on hearing injury between punching machine noise and steady state noise. METHODS: The subjects of present study were 100 workers, included 38 workers exposed to punching machine noise from forging shops and 62 workers exposed to steady state noise from drawbench or abrasive dust workshops. The individual noise dosimetries were used to detect noise that workers exposed, and cumulative noise exposure (CNE) was then calculated. On the basis of GBZ 49-2007, the worker hearing was tested, and the results were assessed. RESULTS: There were no differences of CNE between group exposed to punching machine noise and group exposed to steady state noise. The hearing loss rate (55.3%) at high frequency in workers exposed to punching machine noise was significantly higher than that (32.3%) in workers exposed to steady state noise (P < 0.01). CNE and the hearing loss rate at high frequency showed dose-response relationship (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: when the exposure levels of workers were similar, the hearing injury induced by punching machine noise may be significantly higher than that induced by steady state noise.

[Expression and significance of RhoA and NF-ΚB in human gastric carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of RhoA and NF-κB in gastric carcinoma and their correlation with clinicopathological fearures. To determine the effective prognostic factors of long-term suivival of gastric carcinoma patients. METHODS: The role of RhoA and NF-κB in gastric carcinoma was assessed by tissue array technology and the levels of RhoA and NF-κB expression in paraffin-embedded tissues was quantified by immunohistochemistry from 189 cases of gastric carcinoma, 54 cases of their adjacent tissues, and 32 cases of normal gastric mucosa. The prognosis of gastric carcinoma was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: The positive rates of RhoA expression were 84.7%, 68.5% and 65.6% in gastric carcinoma, adjacent tissues and normal mucosa, respectively. The expression of RhoA in gasric carcinoma was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues and normal mucosa (P < 0.05). The positive rates of NF-κB expression were 75.1%, 42.6% and 15.6%% in gastric carcinoma, adjacent tissues and normal mucosa, respectively. The expression of NF-κB in gasric carcinoma was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues and normal mucosa (P < 0.05). RhoA was positively linked with NF-κB (r = 0.203, P = 0.005). In gastric carcinoma, the expression of RhoA was related with depth of invasion (P < 0.05), and the expression of NF-κB was related with depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the tumor size, lymph node metastasis, depth of invasion, expression of RhoA and NF-κB can shorten the cumulative survival rate. With these paramaters entering the Cox multivariate regression analysis mode, it was revealed that expression of NF-κB, lymph node metastasis and depth of invasion are independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS: The overexpression of RhoA and NF-κB is involved in the occurrence and development of gastric carcinoma. RhoA is positively linked with NF-κB. They are correlated with the invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinoma. The expression of NF-κB, lymph node metastasis, depth of invasion are independent prognostic factors playing an important role in prediction of the clinical outcome after radical resection of gastric carcinoma.

Identification and classification of high risk groups for Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis using an artificial neural network based on occupational histories: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) is a preventable, but not fully curable occupational lung disease. More and more coal miners are likely to be at risk of developing CWP owing to an increase in coal production and utilization, especially in developing countries. Coal miners with different occupational categories and durations of dust exposure may be at different levels of risk for CWP. It is necessary to identify and classify different levels of risk for CWP in coal miners with different work histories. In this way, we can recommend different intervals for medical examinations according to different levels of risk for CWP. Our findings may provide a basis for further emending the measures of CWP prevention and control. METHODS: The study was performed using longitudinal retrospective data in the Tiefa Colliery in China. A three-layer artificial neural network with 6 input variables, 15 neurons in the hidden layer, and 1 output neuron was developed in conjunction with coal miners' occupational exposure data. Sensitivity and ROC analyses were adapted to explain the importance of input variables and the performance of the neural network. The occupational characteristics and the probability values predicted were used to categorize coal miners for their levels of risk for CWP. RESULTS: The sensitivity analysis showed that influence of the duration of dust exposure and occupational category on CWP was 65% and 67%, respectively. The area under the ROC in 3 sets was 0.981, 0.969, and 0.992. There were 7959 coal miners with a probability value < 0.001. The average duration of dust exposure was 15.35 years. The average duration of ex-dust exposure was 0.69 years. Of the coal miners, 79.27% worked in helping and mining. Most of the coal miners were born after 1950 and were first exposed to dust after 1970. One hundred forty-four coal miners had a probability value > or =0.1. The average durations of dust exposure and ex-dust exposure were 25.70 and 16.30 years, respectively. Most of the coal miners were born before 1950 and began to be exposed to dust before 1980. Of the coal miners, 90.28% worked in tunneling. CONCLUSION: The duration of dust exposure and occupational category were the two most important factors for CWP. Coal miners at different levels of risk for CWP could be classified by the three-layer neural network analysis based on occupational history.

Prevalence characteristics and prediction of coal workers' pneumoconiosis in the Tiefa Colliery in China.

To explore characteristics of the development of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) at present and trend in the future, we investigated 16,154 coal miners exposed to dust for at least 1 yr in the Tiefa Colliery in China. Occupational categories were divided into tunneling, mining, combining and helping. Four cohorts (before 1958, 1958-, 1968-, and after 1978) were created according to years of first exposure. Life-Table Method was used to calculate cumulative incidence rates of CWP adjusted by duration of dust exposure and predict the number of the new CWP patients. Results indicated that cumulative incidence rates of CWP in four cohorts were 26.65%, 18.94%, 1.15%, and 0.06%, respectively (Chi(2)=493.57, p<0.0001). The 55-yr cumulative rate of CWP of tunneling miners (25.90%) or that of combining miners (14.53%) was statistically higher than that of mining miners (7.26%) or that of helping miners (0.89%). The number of new CWP patients predicted in future was approximately 77. New CWP patients predicted would mainly occur among coal miners with first dust exposure in 1958-1967 and those working at tunneling. Most of them could be diagnosed in the age group from 45 to 75 and in the period of the next 20 yr from 2008 to 2028.

Investigation of intelligence quotient and psychomotor development in schoolchildren in areas with different degrees of iodine deficiency.

This investigation aims to observe the intelligence and psychomotor development of the schoolchildren in iodine deficiency (ID) areas after the adoption of Universal Salt Iodization (USI), and evaluate the effect of the adoption of USI on their intelligence and psychomotor development. 564 schoolchildren (306 males and 258 females, age range from 8 to 13 yrs) from areas with severe, moderate, and mild ID were investigated. Intelligence quotient (IQ) was measured by Combined Raven's test, second edition. Psychomotor development was examined by Jinyi Psychomotor Test Battery (JPB). We found that the IQ scores of all subjects in the severe and moderate ID areas were 102 +/- 15.6 and 99.5 +/-16.6 respectively, lower than those in the mild ID areas (108 +/- 12.4, p < 0.01). The IQ scores correlated negatively with age (partial r = -0.17; beta = -1.95; p < 0.0001). The total T scores of JPB of all subjects in the severe and moderate ID areas were 316 +/- 42.3 and 330 +/- 47.7 respectively, lower than those in the mild ID areas (342 +/- 48.1, p < 0.05). The total T scores of JPB correlated negatively with age (partial r = -0.15; beta = -4.94; p = 0.0006). We may conclude that after the adoption of USI in the ID areas investigated, USI has probably made a contribution to the partial recovery of intelligence and psychomotor development injured by ID in schoolchildren, and should be strengthened.