This paper discusses virtual channels of cochlear implant, which is produced by simultaneous or sequential activation of adjacent cochlear implant electrodes. Virtual channels create and transfer more available spectral pitch information with the limited number of fixed electrodes, which can be recognized as pitch percepts intermediate to those produced by each electrode separately. This technique not only utilizes the interaction of electrodes but also increases the number of place-pitch steps available to cochlear implant listeners. Virtual channels could be used to realize speech recognition in noisy environment, in enjoying music, and in understanding Chinese language. The study of virtual channels would significantly enhance the traditional cochlear implant therapy and benefit people suffering severe to profound hearing loss.
Cochlear Implants ; trends ; Computer Simulation ; Electric Stimulation ; instrumentation ; methods ; Electrodes, Implanted ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory ; physiology ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; therapy ; Humans

Cochlear implant (CI) is a neural prosthetic device used to provide the sensation of sound to those who are profoundly deaf by delivering electrical stimulus to auditory nerve directly . It is becoming one of the main research frontiers in the area of otology and rehabilitation engineering . This symposium proposes an introduction about the new achievements of cochlear implant research , which consists of the following parts: the structure of CI, new speech processing strategies, comparison of the clinical results of speech processing strategies and the hotspots of the research.
Algorithms ; Cochlear Implants ; Equipment Design ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

This paper discusses the technology of combined electric and acoustic stimulation (EAS) of the auditory system, which is a new therapy for the patients suffering from severe to profound high- and mid-frequency hearing loss but still having their low-frequency hearing. EAS uses hearing aid and cochlear implant technology together in the same ear. The hearing aid acoustically amplifies at low-frequencies, while the cochlear implant electrically stimulates at mid- and high-frequencies. The inner ear processes acoustic and electric stimuli simultaneously. This technique can provide substantial benefit in speech understanding for individuals with severe high-frequency hearing loss and can maintain their residual lower-frequency acoustic hearing. The study of EAS would significantly enhance the conventional cochlear implant therapy and benefit the patients afflicted with severe to profound hearing loss.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Audiometry ; Auditory Pathways ; Auditory Threshold ; physiology ; Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Electric Stimulation ; Hearing Loss ; diagnosis ; surgery ; therapy ; Hearing Loss, High-Frequency ; diagnosis ; surgery ; therapy ; Humans

The modern multi-channel cochlear implant devices produce good speech recognition scores in quiet. However, the ability of most implant users to understand speech with the speech maskers remains quite poor. The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of spectral details encoding in speech processing on Mandarin recognition based on various acoustic models. The improvement of the strategies that encoded spectral details was observed for speech recognition with speech maskers. We also proposed the implementation methods to improve the strategy and stimulate further investigation.
China ; Cochlear Implants ; Computer Simulation ; Humans ; Language ; Models, Biological ; Prosthesis Design ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Sound Spectrography ; methods ; Speech Acoustics ; Speech Perception ; physiology

Objective To study the distribution of waist circumference (WC) in a representative group of Chinese children for establishing the Chinese WC cut-off points. Methods Cross-sectional data obtained from 15 mainland provinces and Hong Kong were collected. There were 178 865 children and adolescents, aged 7-18 years-old in total. All subjects were divided into five regional groups- costal city, non-coastal city, northern rural, southern rural, and Hong Kong, for analyzing the distribution of WC. Results Large variations in WC distribution were found among the five groups for both sexes. The coastal city group had the highest P85 WC values consistently from the early school age to 18-year-old, when comparing with other groups. In contrast, southern rural group had P85 values consistently lagged behind, in both city group and in the north rural group. Hong Kong group had a high P85 WC at early ages, but because of the smaller increments of WC during adolescence, the P85 curve was gradually exceeded by the northern rural groups. Catch-up trend was found in the two rural groups since peak puberty. These disparities were caused not only by factors related to socioeconomic and urban-rural but also to the geographic differences between the noah and the south. Because of the regional variation of WC, a "gradient" prevalence of central obesity was prospected among these groups. Closed associations were found between WC and height, weight and BMI in all age period. Comparison on the WC distributions between people from China, U.S.A or the Netherlands demonstrated the necessity of setting up China's own WC cutoffs.Sex and age-specific percentiles were obtained and smoothed by using the LMS method.Conclusion Data obtained from this study could be used to develop the national WC cutoff points for Chinese children and adolescents.

Objective: To understand the trends in malnutrition among primary and middle school students of Han nationality in Hainan Province from 2005 to 2019, so as to provide a basis for improving nutrition intervention measures for children and adolescents. Methods: A sample of 32 949 Han nationality primary and middle school students aged 7-18 years old in Hainan Province were investigated in 2005, 2010, 2014 and 2019 based on national survey on student physical fitness and health. The Malnutrition Screening Standard of Schoolage Children and Adolescents was used to screen malnutrition. Statistical analysis was performed using the χ2 test and the χ2trend test. Results: In the four surveys conducted during 2005 to 2019, the prevalence of malnutrition among primary and middle school students were 22.12%, 18.80%, 15.89% and 9.56%, respectively, with an increase of -12.56% and an average annual increase of -5.82%. The decreasing trend of malnutrition by year was statistically significant (χ2trend=600.72, P<0.01), and the proportion of emaciation type was the highest (8.87%-20.15%). The detection rates of malnutrition among all students aged 7 to 18 showed a decreasing trend from 2005 to 2019 (χ2trend=56.44, 60.04, 61.48, 42.49, 51.81, 50.81, 72.86, 101.34, 86.38, 24.81, 17.72, 10.38, P<0.01). From 2005 to 2019, the detection rates of malnutrition in boys were higher than that of girls (in 4 surveys), and that in rural students from 2005 to 2014 of 3 surveys were higher than that in towns (χ2=92.07, 35.16, 25.29, 29.98; 64.35, 4.26, 6.32, P<0.05). Conclusions The malnutrition of Han nationality primary and middle school students aged 7-18 years in Hainan Province show a trend of improvement year by year from 2005 to 2019, despite the overall high detection rate. Wasting is the most common type of malnutrition. The epidemic of malnutrition varies by age, sex and areas. Further targeted measures should be taken to strengthen intervention in the diet of primary and middle school students, to improve the nutritional status of children and adolescents.

A comparison of recognition to migraine and treatment methods for it was made between traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine in this paper. Emphasis was made on standardized manipulation processes and techniques of sharp hooked needling for treating the disease, based on both the organic conception of the human body, the theory held by TCM, and on the principle of treatment according to pathogenesis obtained through differentiation of symptoms and signs. The necessary preparation before operations, methods for its application and announcements in the standardized manipulations of sharp hooked needling were all explained in detail. Based on its needling, pricking, dissecting and relaxing effects, the mechanisms of sharp hooked needling in treating the disease were investigated. It is concluded that sharp hooked needling is very effective in treating migraine.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; standards ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; instrumentation ; methods ; standards ; Migraine Disorders ; therapy ; Needles ; Reference Standards

BACKGROUNDWaist circumference (WC), a proxy measure of central body fat, is a better predictor than overall body fat for cardiovascular risk factors in both adults and children. WC cutoffs have been established in many countries, but the national WC reference has not been developed in China.

OBJECTIVETo study the distribution of WC in a representative group of Chinese children for establishing Chinese WC cutoff points.

METHODSCross-sectional data obtained from 15 mainland provinces and Hong Kong were collected. There were 160,225 children and adolescents aged 7-18 years old in total. The subjects were divided into five regional groups namely costal city, other city, north rural, south rural, and Hong Kong, for analyzing the distribution of WC.

RESULTSA large variation in WC distribution was found among the five groups for both sexes. Coastal city group had the highest P85 WC values consistently from the early school ages to 18-year-old compared with other groups. In contrast, south rural group had P85 values consistently lagged behind not only the city groups but also the north rural group. Hong Kong group had a high P85 WC at early ages, but because of the smaller increments of WC during adolescence, the P85 curve was gradually exceeded by the north rural groups. Catch-up trend was found in the two rural groups since the peak of puberty. These disparities were caused by not only socioeconomic and urban-rural factors but also north-south differences. Because of the regional variation of WC, a "gradient" prevalence of central obesity was prospected among these groups. Comparisons of WC distributions between the Chinese and the U.S.A. or Netherlands demonstrated the necessary of setting up China's own WC cutoffs. Sex and age-specific percentiles were obtained and smoothed by using LMS method.

CONCLUSIONThe data obtained from this study could be used to develop national WC cutoff points for Chinese children and adolescents.

Adolescent ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Demography ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Overweight ; epidemiology ; Waist Circumference ; physiology

The main objective of the current study was to develop a universal method for a protein binding assay of complicated herbal components, and to investigate the possible relationship between compound polarity and protein binding using Schisadra lignans as an example. Firstly, the rat, dog and human plasma were spiked with three different concentrations of Schisandra chinensis extract (SLE), and ultramicrofiltration was used to obtain the unbound ingredients. Secondly, thirty-one Schisandra lignans in total plasma and ultrafiltered fluid were measured by LC-IT-TOFMS. Lastly, a relative exposure approach, which entailed calculating the relative concentrations of each Schisandra lignan from the corresponding calibration equation created from the calibration samples spiked with the stock solution of SLE, was applied in order to overcome the absence of authentic standards. The results showed that Schisandra lignans exhibited a high capability to bind with plasma protein, furthermore, the protein binding ratio of the lignan components increased proportionally with their individual chromatographic retention time, which indicated that the ratio of protein binding of lignans might increase accordingly with decreasing polarity. This study suggested that the compound polarity might be an important factor affecting the plasma protein binding of herbal components.
Animals ; Blood Proteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Dogs ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Humans ; Kinetics ; Lignans ; blood ; chemistry ; Male ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Protein Binding ; Rats ; Schisandra ; chemistry

Objective: To establish a method for detection of human antibodies against monkeypox virus. Mothds: The enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) plates were coasted with two monkeypox virus peptides from B21R protein, to establish an indirect ELISA for detecting monkeypox virus IgG antibody. The healthy individuals serum samples, monkeypox virus infected patient serum samples and other virus infected patient sera samples were applied to evaluate specificity of the peptides antigen. The reaction conditions were optimized. Results: Synthesized two peptides from monkeypox virus BR21R protein did not cross react obviously with healthy person serum and other virus infected serum. It was shown that the reaction condition was best with sera dilution at 1∶50 when two combined peptides were coated at 100 ng /well, and second-antibody was diluted at 1∶20 000. At this condition the cut off value of IgG antibody in serum samples for ELISA were A450 reading of 0.393. The detected results of two serum samples collected from the monkeypox patient in Sierra Leone were strongly positive, the titers of IgG antibody in two sera were both 1∶6 400. Conclusions The indirect ELISA for detection of monkeypox virus infection was established preliminarily which provided useful tools for epidemiological study and diagnosis.