Discriminating Bacterial Infection from Other Causes of Fever Using Body Temperature Entropy Analysis

Body temperature is usually employed in clinical practice by strict binary thresholding, aiming to classify patients as having fever or not. In the last years, other approaches based on the continuous analysis of body temperature time series have emerged. These are not only based on absolute thresholds but also on patterns and temporal dynamics of these time series, thus providing promising tools for early diagnosis. The present study applies three time series entropy calculation methods (Slope Entropy, Approximate Entropy, and Sample Entropy) to body temperature records of patients with bacterial infections and other causes of fever in search of possible differences that could be exploited for automatic classification. In the comparative analysis, Slope Entropy proved to be a stable and robust method that could bring higher sensitivity to the realm of entropy tools applied in this context of clinical thermometry. This method was able to find statistically significant differences between the two classes analyzed in all experiments, with sensitivity and specificity above 70% in most cases.     

Sample Entropy as a Tool to Assess Lumbo-Pelvic Movements in a Clinical Test for Low-Back-Pain Patients

Low back pain (LBP) obviously reduces the quality of life but is also the world’s leading cause of years lived with disability. Alterations in motor response and changes in movement patterns are expected in LBP patients when compared to healthy people. Such changes in dynamics may be assessed by the nonlinear analysis of kinematical time series recorded from one patient’s motion. Since sample entropy (SampEn) has emerged as a relevant index measuring the complexity of a given time series, we propose the development of a clinical test based on SampEn of a time series recorded by a wearable inertial measurement unit for repeated bending and returns (b and r) of the trunk. Twenty-three healthy participants were asked to perform, in random order, 50 repetitions of this movement by touching a stool and another 50 repetitions by touching a box on the floor. The angular amplitude of the b and r movement and the sample entropy of the three components of the angular velocity and acceleration were computed. We showed that the repetitive b and r “touch the stool” test could indeed be the basis of a clinical test for the evaluation of low-back-pain patients, with an optimal duration of 70 s, acceptable in daily clinical practice.     

舰船热尾流红外图像的频域滤波增强技术

文章针对舰船热尾流红外图像难以识别的特点,将频域高斯高通滤波技术与空间域直方图均衡技术相结合,对红外图像进行优化处理,锐化了舰船热尾流的边缘,为红外探测潜艇提供了科学的水面热轨迹情况的依据.     

脉冲CO2激光焊接30CrMnSiA气孔控制及机理分析

为了研究激光深熔焊气孔的产生规律及抑制气孔的措施,采用脉冲CO2激光焊接的方法,得到了未焊透时焊缝气孔率和脉冲参数的关系。结果表明,在脉冲频率低于50Hz时,焊缝气孔随着脉冲频率的增加显著减少,当频率在50Hz~200Hz范围时,可以稳定地抑制焊缝气孔的产生。适当提高占空比有利于减少气孔数量。     

脉宽可控的腔倒空射频波导CO2激光器

为了得到脉宽可控的腔倒空射频波导CO2激光器,采用了在陶瓷板上直接开波导槽的方法,构成了多通道Z折叠主本振激光器结构,并在主振波导进行CdTe电光晶体腔内调Q。在理论上计算了加载在CdTe上的高压脉冲下降时间的长短对腔倒空激光脉冲宽度的影响,并通过对高压脉冲电源等效负载参数的调整,得到了脉冲宽度可控的高重频腔倒空激光脉冲。在20kHz,40kHz,65kHz及70kHz的重频工作下,得到了半峰全宽约30ns、峰值功率在2kW以上的腔倒空激光脉冲。结果表明,这种新型腔倒空射频波导CO2激光器满足激光外差成像雷达系统参数要求。     

基于Gabor和PCA的面部图像识别方法

文中利用Gabor变换和PCA降维的优点,提出了Gabor+PCA的面部图像识别方法.该方法先提取图像的Gabor特征,然后将Gabor特征与原图像特征结合构成新的融合特征并用PCA降维,最后用KNN分类器分类.所提Gabor+PCA方法不仅能挖掘出图像的细节信息,而且拓宽了特征空间的维数.另外,Gabor+PCA方法...     

Preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography for purification of shikonin from the Chinese medicinal plant Lithospermum erythrorhizon

The bioactive compound shikonin was successfully isolated and purified from the crude extract of the traditional Chinese medicinal plant Lithospermum erythrorhizon Sieb. et Zucc. by preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). The preparative HSCCC was performed using a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethylacetate-ethanol-water (16:14:14:5 (v/v)). A total amount of 19.6 mg of shikonin at 98.9% purity was obtained from 52 mg of the crude extract (containing 38.9% shikonin) with 96.9% recovery. The preparative isolation and purification of shikonin by HSCCC was completed in 200 min in a one-step separation.     

Das Pyren und der Einfluß von Substitution oder Komplexie-rung auf seine Geometrie und Packung im kristallinen Zustand

The crystal structures of pyrene and substituted and complexed derivatives of pyrene have been investigated by X-ray and neutron diffraction. The geometry of the pyrene skeleton has been determined experimentally with high accuracy and calculated by quantum chemical methods. In the cases reported in the literature and cited here the pyrene skeleton has the molecular symmetry mmm or mm2 with values for the bond lengths of the six symmetrically independent bondsa, b, c, d, e, f differing significantly in the limits of error. Mean values of a number of experimental and theoretical bond lengths are given and can be considered as standard values for the mm2 symmetric pyrene skeleton. In the case of substitution of the pyrene in 3-position with a polar heterocyclic molecule of the azomethine-imine type the mm2 symmetry vanishes, a C–H ... N intramolecular hydrogen bond arises and the directly neighbouring pyrene units are not packed parallel with their planes to each other, but they are considerably tilted. Relatively narrow intermolekular C-C contacts, 3.314 and 3.368 Å, have been observed. The conclusion is drawn that the asymmetry of the pyrene molecule and a tilt of directly neighbouring pyrene units in the crystal packing can be induced by substitution e. g. with suitable polar heterocycles.

Juli 1985.     

A new liquid-phase microextraction method based on solidification of floating organic drop

In the present study, a new and versatile liquid-phase microextraction method is described. This method requires very simple and cheap apparatus and also a small amount of organic solvent. Eight microliters of 1-undecanol was delivered to the surface of solution containing analytes and solution was stirred for a desired time. Then sample vial was cooled by inserting it into an ice bath for 5 min. The solidified 1-undecanol was transferred into a suitable vial and immediately melted; then, 2 μL of it was injected into a gas chromatograph for analysis.Some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were used as model compounds for developing and evaluating of the method performance. Analysis was carried out by gas chromatography/flame ionization detection (GC/FID).Several factors influencing the microextraction efficiency, such as the nature and volume of organic solvent, the temperature and volume of sample solution, stirring rate and extraction time were investigated and optimized. The applicability of the technique was evaluated by determination of trace amounts of PAHs in environmental samples. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits (LOD) of the method were in the range of 0.07-1.67 μg L⁻¹ and relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) for 10 μg L⁻¹ PAHs were <7%. A good linearity (r² > 0.995) in a calibration range of 0.25-300.00 μg L⁻¹ was obtained. After 30 min extraction duration, enrichment factors were in the range of 594-1940. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the determination of trace amounts of PAHs in several real water samples, and satisfactory results were resulted. Since very simple devices were used, this new technique is affordable, efficient, and convenient for extraction and determination of low concentrations of PAHs in water samples.