Objective To prepare and characterize the polyclonal antibody against N protein of SARS-CoV. Methods The polyclonal antibody against SARS-CoV N was obtained from immunized rabbit with purified GST-N. The titer of the antibody was determined by indirect ELISA, and the specificity by Western blot and immunochemical staining. Results The rabbit′s antibody against SARS-CoV N was prepared successfully. The titer of antiserum against SARS-CoV N was about 1.2?10~ -5 . Western blot and immunochemical staining analysis showed that the polyclonal antibody could bind to the expressed fusion protein specifically. Conclusion The rabbit′s antibody against SARS-CoV N has been prepared successfully, and it can be a useful reagent for clinical diagnosis and further research.

Objective To identify the subcellular location of S AR S-CoV N protein in mammalian cells. Methods The gene fraction of SARS-CoV was cloned into the PGEFP-C1 plasmid to construct expression vecto r PGEFP-C1/N. The subcellular location of N in A549 and VeroE6 cells was observ ed under fluorescence microscope with the aid of transient transfection techniqu e. The expression of the fusion protein (GFP-N) was detected by Western blot. Results The PGEFP-C1/N was constructed. N protein was localiz ed in the cytoplasm of transfected cells and detected by Western blot. C onclusion N protein was localized in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells.

The one-step method was adopted in this study to synthesize aliphatic polyurethane with 4,4-methylene dicyclohexyl diisocyanate(HMDI), 1,4-butanediol (BDO) and poly (tetrahydrofuran) (PTMG). The tests conducted on this material were: FIR spectrum, mechanical properties test, water contact angles test, hemolysis test and platelet adhesion test. Results showed that this material has a good tensile strength up to 30 Mpa, similar to aromaphatic polyurethane. But its tensile elongation, tensile permanent change, hydrophility are better than those of aromaphatic polyurethane. The hemolysis test and platelet adhesion test showed that it has good blood compatibility.
Animals ; Biocompatible Materials ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; toxicity ; In Vitro Techniques ; Materials Testing ; Platelet Adhesiveness ; drug effects ; Polyurethanes ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Rabbits ; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared ; Surface Properties ; Tensile Strength

Automatic speaker gender identification based on voice feature is an important task in voice processing and analysis fields. In this paper non-linear parameters such as fractal dimension are applied to be one part of feature space for improving the ability of describing speaker gender feature through conventional linear parameters method. Pitch is picked using lifting scheme, and audio fractal dimension is extracted. Then based on Takens theory, the time delay method is used to reconstruct the phase space of fractal dimension sequence. And fractal dimension complexity is obtained by calculating Approximate Entropy. Three dimension feature vectors, including the pitch, the fractal dimension and the fractal dimension complexity, are applied to speaker gender identification. Experiment results show that through adding non-linear parameters, compared with the linear parameter using one dimension only such as pitch, the proposed method is more accurate and robust, and thus provides a new way for speaker gender identification.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Biometry ; methods ; Humans ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Pitch Discrimination ; Sex Characteristics ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Speech ; Speech Acoustics ; Voice

Objective To explore the value of transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) combined with imaging techniques in the diagnosis of benign and malignant prostate nodules.Methods Totally 170 suspected prostate carcinoma patients were selected and treated with TRUS before puncture.Taking pathological results as the gold standard,the accuracy,specificity,sensitivity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of transrectal power Doppler ultrasound (PDI),transrectal realtime tissue elastography (TRTE) and PDI combined with TRTE in diagnosis of benign and malignant prostate nodules were compared.Results In the diagnosis of prostate cancer by PDI,the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value and accuracy were 72.9％,74.3％,78.7％,67.9％ and 73.5％ respectively,while for the TRTE were 73.9％,78.4％,81.6％,69.9％ and 75.9％,and there were no significant differences (P ＞ 0.05).PDI combined with TRTE was able to increase the sensitivity (94.8％),negative predictive value (90.9％) and accuracy (82.9％) for diagnosis of prostate nodules (P ＜0.05).Conclusion Transrectal PDI and TRTE can be used as a single indicator of benign and malignant prostate nodules.The combination of the two methods can gain high sensitivity,negative predictive value aud accuracy.

Objective To explore the value of transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) combined with imaging techniques in the diagnosis of benign and malignant prostate nodules.Methods Totally 170 suspected prostate carcinoma patients were selected and treated with TRUS before puncture.Taking pathological results as the gold standard,the accuracy,specificity,sensitivity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of transrectal power Doppler ultrasound (PDI),transrectal realtime tissue elastography (TRTE) and PDI combined with TRTE in diagnosis of benign and malignant prostate nodules were compared.Results In the diagnosis of prostate cancer by PDI,the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value and accuracy were 72.9％,74.3％,78.7％,67.9％ and 73.5％ respectively,while for the TRTE were 73.9％,78.4％,81.6％,69.9％ and 75.9％,and there were no significant differences (P ＞ 0.05).PDI combined with TRTE was able to increase the sensitivity (94.8％),negative predictive value (90.9％) and accuracy (82.9％) for diagnosis of prostate nodules (P ＜0.05).Conclusion Transrectal PDI and TRTE can be used as a single indicator of benign and malignant prostate nodules.The combination of the two methods can gain high sensitivity,negative predictive value aud accuracy.

In this paper, a new calculating method of generalized dimension, based on boxes-coupling principle, is proposed to overcome the edge effects and to improve the capability of the speech endpoint detection which is based on the original calculating method of generalized dimension. This new method has been applied to speech endpoint detection. Firstly, the length of overlapping border was determined, and through calculating the generalized dimension by covering the speech signal with overlapped boxes, three-dimension feature vectors including the box dimension, the information dimension and the correlation dimension were obtained. Secondly, in the light of the relation between feature distance and similarity degree, feature extraction was conducted by use of common distance. Lastly, bi-threshold method was used to classify the speech signals. The results of experiment indicated that, by comparison with the original generalized dimension (OGD) and the spectral entropy (SE) algorithm, the proposed method is more robust and effective for detecting the speech signals which contain different kinds of noise in different signal noise ratio (SNR), especially in low SNR.
Artificial Intelligence ; Humans ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Speech ; Speech Production Measurement ; methods ; Speech Recognition Software

Objective To analyze the burden and changes caused by burns among Chinese population,from 1990 to 2013.Methods Using the G20 data and the China national and subnational data from GBD2013,this study deemed to comprehensively show the burden caused by burns and the change from 1990 to 2013,using the indicators of death and DALY.Results In 2013,the standardized mortality of burns in Chinese was 0.88/100 000,with the standardized DALY rate of burn as 30.58/100 000.The ratio of DALY between males and females was 1.85 ∶ 1.Among the G20 countries,China ranked 16 for the standardized DALY rate,according to the top down order.The highest death rate was seen in the age group of 70 and over,followed by age group of 5,which had the highest DALY rate and followed by the 70 or older age group.In different provinces,Guizhou presented the highest DALY rate (50.24/100 000),with Aomen area the lowest (6.16/100 000).From 1990 to 2013,the burden of burn reduced generally.Both the standardized rates on death and DALY reduced by 68.10％ and 76.95％ respectively,more in females than in males.Standardized rates on death and DALY reduced among all the age groups,with the rates of reduction increasing by age.From 1990 to 2013,the DALY rate decreased in all the provinces.Conclusions The burden of burn decreased in Chinese population during 1990-2013.However,the burden of burn among children,elderly and males were still relatively high that called for closer attention.

Objective To explore the disease burden of road injuries in China.Methods The results of Global Burden of Disease 2013 including death rate,disability-adjusted of life years (DALY),years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLL),years lived with disability (YLD),were used to describe the burden caused by road injuries in 2013 and the trends from 1990 to 2013,in China.Results In 2013,there were 313 676 deaths caused by traffic accidents in China.Death rate,rates on DALY,YLL and YLD were 22.52 per 100 000,1 076.54 per 100 000,971.21 per 100 000 and 105.34 per 100 000,respectively.Rates on deaths,YLL and YLD appeared higher in males,pedestrians than in females and other types of road travelers.Burden of injuries caused by traffic accidents was seen higher in those aged 15 to 49-year-old.From 1990 to 2013,the overall death rate on road injuries increased by 0.54 per 100 000 in China,with an increase of 2.34 per 100 000 and 0.81 per 100 000,respectively in males and pedestrians.The rates on DALY,YLL and YLD decreased by 164.21 per 100 000,115.06 per 100 000 and 49.06 per 100 000,respectively.Conclusions During the past 20 years,achievements had been made on road injury prevention and control,with the decrease of disease burden caused by road accidents.Males,young adults and pedestrians should be called for more attention to prevent road injuries.

Objective:This study aims to obtain the prevalence and features associated with Violence Against Children (VAC) in China and, thus, formulate a prevention strategy.Methods:The mortality-related data of VAC was sourced from the National Disease Surveillance Points System (DSP) during 2013-2021. We analyzed the DSP data regarding children aged 0-17 years old who died from violence. The hospital cases of VAC was sourced from the National Injury Surveillance System (NISS), 2013-2021. We analyzed the data from NISS with the parameter of "intentional injury" caused by VAC in children aged between 0-17 years. Using robust linear regression, we analyze the time trend in the proportion of violence incidence. To understand the variations in the incidence of different types of violence across genders, we apply the chi-square test and adjusted Pearson residuals.Results:The overall trend of death caused by VAC has declined; it was reduced to 0.14/100 000 in 2021 from 0.33/100 000 in 2013. In 2021, male VAC mortality (0.15/100 000) was higher than females (0.13/100 000). The proportion of VAC cases to all injury cases has declined from 3.34% in 2013 to 2.29% in 2021. Among 9 344 VAC cases supervised by hospitals in 2021, the number of males (7 503 cases) was around 4 times that of females (1 841 cases), and the top three modes of violence were blunt tools (64.77%), falls (7.46%) and sharp instruments (6.18%), and 45 cases of sexual violence included 38 girls and 7 boys.Conclusions:The declining death rate due to VAC may be related to the benign development of Chinese society. Prevention strategies targeting training in parenting skills and problem-solving should be prioritized.