Evaluation of the effect of Ramadan fasting on fat-soluble antioxidants and markers of oxidative stress in healthy Pakistani subjects

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of Ramadan fasting on the fat-soluble antioxidants [all-trans-retinol (vitamin A) and α-tocopherol (vitamin E)] in healthy Pakistani subjects. Thirty (30) healthy male volunteers (aged 30–50 years) with Ramadan fasting have participated in the study. Blood sampling from these subjects was conducted 1 day before and on 15th and 28th days of Ramadan. The serum levels of vitamin A and vitamin E were measured using liquid chromatography linked with UV–visible (HPLC–UV). The comparison between the samples taken at different times was made by Minitab software applying two samples and paired t-test at (p?<?0.05) as significant. No significant changes have been found in the levels of all-trans-retinol before and during Ramadan values. The levels of α-tocopherol on 28th Ramadan have been decreased significantly when compared with its values before Ramadan (p?<?0.0001). It is concluded that there is nonsignificant change in the levels of vitamin A during the month of Ramadan while the levels of α-tocopherol have been decreased significantly on the 28th day of Ramadan. It is therefore suggested that the fasting of Ramadan has effect on the levels of α-tocopherol and food-based interventions might be necessary to modify the diet during Ramadan.     

树的罗马控制数和控制数

A Roman dominating function on a graph G = (V, E) is a function f : V→{0, 1, 2} satisfying the condition that every vertex u for which f(u) = 0 is adjacent to at least one vertex v for which f(v) - 2. The weight of a Roman dominating function is the value (?). The minimum weight of a Roman dominating function on a graph G, denoted byγR(G), is called the Roman dominating number of G. In this paper, we will characterize a tree T withγR(T) =γ(T) 3.     

我国各地区人口素质差异的主成分和聚类分析

本文利用国家统计局人口变动情况抽样调查数据，运用主要成分和聚类分析方法，揭示了１９９７年我国３０个省份（不包括西藏）的人口素质差异。首先通过人口素质指标体系确立人口素质的综合指标，在此基础上来评价各地的人口素质状况，并按其素质的高低将全国３０个省份的人口素质状况分为四大类，同时，对各省人口素质存在差异的原因进行了归纳和总结     

十八世纪以来中国太湖流域与英国苏格兰的人才比较研究

将中国人才出得最多的地区之一──太湖流域和西方人才出得最多的地区之一──英国苏格兰（１９８３年人口５１４万）进行比较，发现近３００年来，两地在人才上差距相当大，特别是在自然科学、医学和经济领域方面。在这一期间，苏格兰人对世界的贡献和影响要比太湖流域人大得多。本文介绍了所用的比较研究方法，概述了分类比较研究和学科比较研究结果，并从经济基础、思想观念、政治环境、国际交流、教育和战乱等几个方面探讨了形成这种明显差距的原因。最后提出了对２１世纪中华人才的展望。这一研究可以看作是对“汤因比猜想”研究（从人才角度）以及东亚－西欧人才比较研究的一种先期的“模型试验”。对后者的深入研究将有助于对中华民族未来的自我认识。     

企业雇佣下残疾人就业行为研究——基于就业促进政策的演化博弈分析

融合就业是残疾人可持续发展的关键途径。基于演化博弈理论和残疾人就业促进政策,建立残疾人与用人单位(企业)行为交互过程的动态演化模型,用数值实验展示了初始条件改变和决策变量不同取值对系统演化结果的影响。研究发现,残疾人就业行为路径演化系统收敛于良好状态和“锁定”状态两种模式;调控模型中的参数收敛于不同模式的概率发生显著变化或变化不明显,揭示了现实中残疾人就业治理效果不理想的深层次原因;通过提高残疾人的工资待遇、心理收益、为企业创造的价值,减少残疾人的社会补助与就业付出的人力和社会资本,增加残疾人就业法定比例、企业雇佣残疾人的声誉收益、增值税退税优惠(企业符合退税条件)与雇佣残疾人数量,减少企业支持残疾人的就业投入等均能使系统演化到良好状态的概率增加。这为制定灵活有效的残疾人就业制度、政策与措施提供了较大的操作空间,多元主体协同治理,利益共享,良性互动,以跳出不良“锁定”状态,实现残疾人就业行为良序发展,破解就业难题。     

A comparative study of magnetic resonance venography techniques for the evaluation of the internal jugular veins in multiple sclerosis patients

Background and Purpose

The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the vascular nature of diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) is a growing field of research. This work reports on the application of MR angiographic (MRA) and venographic (MRV) techniques in assessing the extracranial vasculature in MS patients.

Materials and Methods

A standardized MRI protocol containing 2D TOF-MRV and dynamic 3D contrast-enhanced (CE) MRAV was run for 170 MS patients and 40 healthy controls (HC). The cross-sectional area (CSA) of the internal jugular veins (IJVs) was measured at three neck levels in all subjects for both MRV techniques to determine the presence of venous stenoses. All data were analyzed retrospectively.

Results

For the values where both methods showed signal, the 3D method showed larger CSA measurement values compared to 2D methods in both IJVs, in both MS and HC subjects which was confirmed with student paired t-tests. Of the 170 MS patients, 93 (55%) in CE-MRAV and 103 (61%) in TOF-MRV showed stenosis in at least one IJV. The corresponding numbers for the 40 HC subjects were 2 (5%) and 4 (10%), respectively. Carotid ectasias with IJV stenosis were seen in 26 cases (15%) with 3D CE-MRAV and were not observable with 2D TOF-MRV. Carotid ectasias were not seen in the HC group. In the 2D TOF-MRV data, banding of the IJVs related to slow flow was seen in 58 (34%) MS cases and in no HC cases. MS patients showed lower average CSAs than the HC subjects.

Conclusion

The 3D CE MRAV depicted the vascular anatomy more completely than the 2D TOF-MRV. However, the 3D CE MRAV does not provide any information about the flow characteristics which are indirectly available in the 2D TOF-MRV in those cases where there is slow flow.     

Effect of varying two key parameters in simulating evacuation for a dormitory in China

Student dormitories are both living and resting areas for students in their spare time. There are many small rooms in the dormitories. And the students are distributed densely in the dormitories. High occupant density is the main characteristic of student dormitories. Once there is an accident, such as fire or earthquake, the losses will be cruel. Computer evacuation models developed overseas are commonly applied in working out safety management schemes. The average minimum widths of corridor and exit are the two key parameters affecting the evacuation for the dormitory. The effect of varying these two parameters will be studied in this paper by taking a dormitory in our university as an example. Evacuation performance is predicted with the software FDS + Evac. The default values in the software are used and adjusted through a field survey. The effect of varying either of the two parameters is discussed. It is found that the simulated results agree well with the experimental results. From our study it seems that the evacuation time is not in proportion to the evacuation distance. And we also named a phenomenon of “the closer is not the faster”. For the building researched in this article, a corridor width of 3 m is the most appropriate. And the suitable exit width of the dormitory for evacuation is about 2.5 to 3 m. The number of people has great influence on the walking speed of people. The purpose of this study is to optimize the building, and to make the building in favor of personnel evacuation. Then the damage could be minimized.     

On the Variability of Heart Rate Variability—Evidence from Prospective Study of Healthy Young College Students

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been widely used as indices for autonomic regulation, including linear analyses, entropy and multi-scale entropy based nonlinear analyses, and however, it is strongly influenced by the conditions under which the signal is being recorded. To investigate the variability of healthy HRV under different settings, we recorded electrocardiograph (ECG) signals from 56 healthy young college students (20 h for each participant) at campus using wearable single-lead ECG device. Accurate R peak to R peak (RR) intervals were extracted by combing the advantages of five commonly used R-peak detection algorithms to eliminate data quality influence. Thorough and detailed linear and nonlinear HRV analyses were performed. Variability of HRV metrics were evaluated from five categories: (1) different states of daily activities; (2) different recording time period in the same day during free-running daily activities; (3) body postures of sitting and lying; (4) lying on the left, right and back; and (5) gender influence. For most of the analyzed HRV metrics, significant differences (p < 0.05) were found among different recording conditions within the five categories except lying on different positions. Results suggested that the standardization of ECG data collection and HRV analysis should be implemented in HRV related studies, especially for entropy and multi-scale entropy based analyses. Furthermore, this preliminary study provides reference values of HRV indices under various recording conditions of healthy young subjects that could be useful information for different applications (e.g., health monitoring and management).     

前体离子扫描法在快速筛查中药及保健食品中非法添加的5型磷酸二酯酶抑制剂及其未知衍生物中的应用

改造有明确疗效的药物,合成新的衍生物以避开法定检验方法是目前化学药物非法添加的趋势之一。本文提出将液相色谱-三重四极杆质谱联用仪的质谱前体离子扫描模式应用于中药及保健食品等复杂体系中非法添加药物衍生物的快速筛查策略,以5型磷酸二酯酶抑制剂为实验对象,通过分析该类化合物的结构和质谱特点将其分类,筛选各类共有的子离子碎片,优化质谱参数,建立了前体离子扫描模式的LC-MS筛查方法,讨论了质谱参数和碎片离子的选择对筛选结果的影响,并应用于实际样品的测定。结果表明,该方法既可以满足已知化合物的测定需要,又可以对复杂体系中未知的同类衍生物进行快速筛查,防止未知衍生物的漏检。该方法灵敏、专属、高效,值得进一步研究。     

轻过渡系列元素中的Fe、Mn与人体健康

介绍了饮水中微量元素Fe、Mn在元素周期表中的位置，特性及其与人体健康的关系，提醒人们不能无限地补充Fe与Mn。