Narrow Results

The case-based distance (CBD) methods for screening are helpful for assisting decision makers in filtering out alternatives that are unlikely to be chosen. However, most of these methods based on selected cases and distance measurements from a chosen target point can only solve screening problems with positive criteria weights. This study proposes a two-phase approach based on mixed integer programming to integrate the concept of Data Envelopment Analysis-Discriminant Analysis (DEA-DA) and the extended case-based distance (ECBD) method for screening problems involving uncertain signs of criteria weights and different target points. The results show that the proposed approach can reduce the misclassification rate and address multiple solution problems. In addition, because the proposed approach can solve problems involving negative weights directly, the influences of different target points can be reduced. Therefore, it is helpful for decision makers to conduct scenario analysis based on different chosen target points.

We present new results for two important heavy vector boson physics processes: (1), virtual corrections to hard bremsstrahlung which are relevant to precision predictions for the radiative return process in Z boson production at and beyond LEP2 energies; and, (2), electric charge screening effects in single W production with finite p_T, multiple photon radiation in high energy collider physics processes. In both cases we show that we improve the respective precision tag significantly. Phenomenological implications are discussed.

A calculation of dynamical conductivity is performed for low-dimensional systems, by taking into account the screening of field. Our calculation is valid for all value of wave vector and frequency. The Drude conductivity of three, two and one-dimensional free electron gas, layered electron gas and quantum wire system can be deduced from our calculation. However, our calculation suggests that the use of Drude formulae of conductivity to explain experimental result on microwave and infra-red conductivity, in long wave length limit, can be highly erroneous in case of low-dimensional system that offer larger value of relaxation time. It is found that; (i) screening of a dynamical field becomes less significant on reduction in dimensionality and (ii) unlike the case of three dimensional electron gas, transverse electric field cannot excite collective excitation modes (penetration depth cannot be defined) in a two-dimensional electron gas and quantum wire system. In comparison with prior reported calculation ours is more rigorous calculation as it includes the possibility of propagation of collective excitation modes in all direction. The plasmons in a low-dimensional system cannot be excited for negligibly small value of momentum transfer.

We study the current and charge distribution of a two dimensional electron gas under strong perpendicular magnetic fields within the linear response regime. We show within a self-consistent screening theory that incompressible strips with integer values of local Landau-level filling factor exist for finite intervals of the magnetic field strength B. Within an essentially local conductivity model, we find that the current density in these B intervals is confined to the incompressible strips of vanishing local longitudinal resistivity. This leads to vanishing longitudinal and exactly quantized Hall resistance, and to a nice agreement of the calculated Hall potential profiles with the measured ones.

Mammographic screening programmes generate large numbers of highly variable, complex images, most of which are unequivocally normal. When present, abnormalities may be small or subtle. Two processes critical to the success of screening programmes are the perception of potential abnormalities and the subsequent analy-sis of each detected lesion to determine its clinical significance. The consequences of errors are costly, and in many screening centres, films are read by two radiologists in an attempt to reduce errors. The prime objective of our research is to improve the accuracy of the detection and analysis of breast lesions by providing radiologists with computer-aided digital image analysis tools. In this paper we focus on the detection and analysis of mammographic microcalcifications.

We describe a philosophy of research aimed at generating useful computer-based aids for radiologists. Firstly, it is necessary to accurately identify specific tasks which are difficult for the human observer. Having correctly identified a problem, appropriate computer vision methods must be developed and their performance evaluated. It is then important to determine effective ways of using such methods to aid radiologists, and it is essential to prove that the effect on radiologists’ performance is entirely beneficial.

We present results of experiments to determine factors affecting radiologists’ perception of microcalcifications, and to investigate the effects of attention-cueing on detection performance. Our results show that radiologists’ performance can be significantly improved with the use of prompts generated from automatically-detected microcalcification clusters.

We describe a new method for the delineation of mammographic abnormalities based on the analysis of multiple high quality X-ray projections of excised lesions. Biopsy specimens are secured inside a rigid tetrahedron, the edges of which provide a reference frame to which the locations of features can be related. A three-dimensional representation of an abnormality can be formed and rotated to resemble its appearance in the original mammogram.

General Relativity (GR) has been tested extensively in the solar system and is being tested in the new environment of the Galactic Center (GC) black hole where the dimensionless gravitational potential ($GM/c^{2}r$) is 100 times stronger than the one encountered in solar system. Therefore, the neighborhood of the GC black hole is a naive opportunity to test modified theories of gravity. In this work, effect of $f(R)$ gravity near the black hole is studied. The difference of pericenter shift between GR and $f(R)$ gravity is studied for compact orbits having semi-major axis equal to and below $a=1000$ au (S0-2 like orbits). In a model-dependent approach, we choose $f(R)\propto R^2$ (power law gravity) model which is cosmologically motivated and study the deviation in orbital pericenter shift for both zero spin and non-zero spin of the black hole. It is found that effect of $f(R)$ gravity becomes prominent for compact orbits. In model-independent approach to $f(R)$ gravity with the generic scalaron fields ($\psi =f^{\prime }(R)$), we extract the parameters of $f(R)$ gravity from the current bounds on Parametrized Post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters ($\gamma ,\beta$) near the GC black hole. The screening of $f(R)$ gravity is also investigated for these bounds on PPN parameters. It has been found that sufficiently massive scalarons ($10^{-16}$eV) are completely screened but light and intermediate mass scalarons ($10^{-22}$eV and $10^{-19}$eV) are unscreened towards S0-2 like orbits as well as in the orbit of the newly discovered short period star S4716 ($a=407$au). The possibility of detection of the $f(R)$ gravity effects due to these unscreened scalarons is forecasted with existing and upcoming astrometric capabilities of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs).

The prevalence of infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is higher among prison inmates compared with the general population because of the high proportion of intravenous drug misusers. In this paper, a mathematical model for the spread of HCV in correctional institutions is developed and analyzed. The impact of educational campaigns and screening of HCV infected individuals is examined. In the presence of screening, the study suggests that targeted education campaigns of more than 50% will be highly effective in controlling the sharing of injection equipment among intravenous drug users, thereby reducing HCV prevalence within the correctional institutions. Further, we applied optimal control theory to the proposed model. The controls represent educational campaigns and screening. The objective is based on minimizing cumulative latent and infectious cases within the correctional institution, while maximizing the number of susceptible nonintravenous drug misusers. The optimal control is characterized and numerically solved. Overall, the application of optimal control theory in this study suggests that, more effort should be devoted to educational campaigns compared to screening.

A nonlinear SEIR model is formulated and analyzed. This model accounts for three important interventions — the saturated treatment on infective individuals, the screening on the exposed individuals and the information induced self-protection on susceptible individuals. Existence and stability of equilibria are discussed. A sensitivity analysis for the model parameters is performed and we identified the parameters which are more sensitive to the model system. The sensitivity analysis is further followed up with the two parameters heat plot that determines the regions for the parametric values in which the system is either stable or unstable. Further, an optimal control problem is formulated by considering screening and treatment as control variables and corresponding cost functional is constructed. Using Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle, paths of optimal controls are obtained analytically. A comparative study is conducted numerically to explore and analyze analytical results. We note that in absence of treatment, screening policy may be a cost-effective choice to keep a tab on the disease. However, comprehensive effect of both screening and treatment has a huge impact, which is highly effective and least expensive. It is also noted that treatment is effective for mild epidemic whereas screening has a significant effect on the disease burden while epidemic is severe. For a range of basic reproduction number, effect of self-protection and saturation in treatment is also explored numerically.

Background: Screening for hypothyroidism in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patients is of controversy. To determine the value of hypothyroidism screening in CTS patients without definite predisposing factor we designed this study. Materials and Methods: 220 normal female and 220 female with CTS were included. We excluded any patient with a definite predisposing factor for CTS such as trauma, being manual laborer, etc. Boston carpal tunnel questionnaire was filled for each CTS patient and all the patients went under electrodiagnostic study; and a blood sample was taken to measure TSH and T4 level. Results: The prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism was 38.2% among the CTS group, and 11.8% in control group. The level of TSH was above 10mU/L (cut off level for treatment) in 45.2% of subclinical hypothyroid patients with CTS and 11.5% of subclinical hypothyroid patients without CTS. In the subclinical hypothyroid patients with CTS there was a significant direct correlation between TSH values and the Boston questionnaire scoring (correlation coefficient with function score: 0.93 and with symptom score: 0.96) ($p<0.001$). Conclusion: Regarding high prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in CTS patients without definite predisposing factor and direct association of TSH level with symptom severity we recommend screening for hypothyroidism in these patients.

Developmental dysplasia of the hip can result in significant morbidity both in childhood and later in adult life. Early diagnosis enables better results to be obtained with fewer complications, while delayed diagnosis can lead to prolonged treatment with less satisfactory outcome.

A Neonatal Hip Screening program for DDH has been in place in the National University Hospital, Singapore since December 1989. Our program is run by consultant neonatologists and consultant paediatric orthopaedic surgeons. All neonates seen with DDH are followed up for a minimum of 1 year with ultrasonography and X-rays.

Our results show an incidence of dislocated hips of 4.7 per 1000 live births. The incidence of neonates with acetabular dysplasia as defined by an Acetabular Index of > 30° is 16.8 per 1000 live births.

The early diagnosis and treatment of hip dislocation is important for the development of a normal acetabulum. Neonatal Hip Screening programs have been shown to be effective in the early diagnosis, resulting in successful outcome of treatment and reduction of economic costs in the management of DDH.

The finding of a significant incidence of DDH in our population and the successful management after early diagnosis in our study have vindicated the establishment of our hip screening program.

Response Biomedical Corp. expands Chinese distribution agreement for RAMP^® cardiovascular products.

Nanocarrier drugs for pancreatic cancer now being produced in China.

Cellular Biomedicine Group acquires Chinese PLA General Hospital's CAR-T immuno-oncology technology and clinical data.

VHS Group kicks off the integration of the EAP Industry in China by acquiring ZO's EAP business.

Hua Medicine achieves positive Phase 1b results in diabetes with 4th-Generation glucokinase activator.

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ACT Genomics raises $8 million in its first private funding round.

TWi Biotechnology selects Medidata's cloud-based platform to advance cutting-edge clinical development.

Crown Bioscience expands partnership with The National Resource Center for Mutant Mice (NRCMM) on developing novel immuno-oncology mouse models.

Potential new breathalyzer for lung cancer screening.

First decoded Neobatrachia genome provides new insight for amphibian evolutionary research.

Clinical Genomics and its Exclusive China Partner BioChain Group Receive CFDA Approval for InSure® FIT™ in China.

China-U.S. Team Uses Stem Cells in Cataract Treatment.

Celsion Corporation Announces Launch of the OPTIMA Study in China.

3SBio's PEG-irinotecan Wins IND Approval from China FDA.

New Zealand to Fund Joint Research Centers with China.

Roche Receives China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) Approval for the CINtec® PLUS Cytology Test to Help Prevent Women from Developing Cervical Cancer.

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Transgenic Monkeys for Autism Study in China - Featuring Dr. Zilong Qiu.

Cervical Cancer is Highly Preventable. Don’t Succumb to It.

Do Your Part to Stop Infectious Disease from Spreading: Insights from Infectious Diseases Expert — Dr. Leong Hoe Nam.

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Cancer Control Efforts in Vietnam: Interview with Dr Tran Thanh Huong.

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Exclusive Interviews with TR Innovators under 35.

SINGAPORE – Human Heart Tissue Grown from Stem Cells Improves Drug Testing.

UNITED STATES – Bioengineered Human Livers Mimic Natural Development.

UNITED STATES – New Cellular Target May Put the Brakes on Cancer’s Ability to Spread.

UNITED STATES – Does Consuming Low-Fat Dairy Increase the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease?

UNITED STATES – Memory Loss and Other Cognitive Decline Linked to Blood Vessel Disease in the Brain.

AUSTRALIA – Fabricating High Performance Nanohybrid Catalysts.

TAIWAN – US FDA Approves Zhaohe Cao-based Botanical Drug as an Investigational New Drug for Cancer Therapy.

KOREA – Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee Elected to the NAS.

Navigating the screening conundrum in the pharmaceutical industry.

Objective: To analyze the correlation between the vascular endothelial function (characterized by endothelin-1 and nitric oxide) and the renal hemodynamics in patients with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) by color Doppler ultrasound.

Method: Depending on the severity of the disease, 76 HDP patients were divided into three groups, namely, pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) group ($n=26$), mild preeclampsia (PE) group ($n=28$), and severe PE group ($n=22$). In the meantime, 28 healthy pregnant women were selected as controls. Color Doppler ultrasound was performed to determine the following parameters in the interlobar arteries of the kidney: Resistance index (RI), peak end-diastolic velocity (EDV), pulsatility index (PI), peak systolic velocity (PSV), and S/D ratio. The correlations of these parameters with the serum levels of ET-1 and NO were then analyzed.

Result: (1) In the interlobar arteries of the kidney, RI, S/D, PI were positively significantly correlated to the serum level of ET-1 in HDP patients (All $p<0.001$) and negatively to the serum level of NO (All $p<0.01$). (2) RI, S/D, PI of the mild and severe PE groups were significantly higher than those of the control group (All $p<0.05$). However, EDV of the mild and severe PE groups was significantly lower than that of the control group (All $p<0.05$). (3) The serum level of ET-1 was significantly higher in the HDP patients than in the control group ($p<0.001$). However, the serum level of NO was significantly lower in the former than in the latter ($p<0.001$). As HDP became more severe, there was an elevation in the serum level of ET-1 and a decrease in NO.

Conclusion: Indicators of renal hemodynamics measured by color Doppler ultrasound were correlated to the serum levels of ET-1 and NO characterizing the vascular endothelial function. They were sensitive indicators reflecting hemodynamic changes and renal impairment in HDP patients.

For multiple criteria decision problems, screening is a helpful process for reducing a larger set of alternatives to a smaller one containing the best alternatives so that decision makers (DMs) can concentrate on evaluating alternatives within a smaller set. This study proposes a graphical approach based on the extended case-based distance method to assist individual as well as group DMs in screening and observing the case distances between alternatives and selected cases. Benchmark cases can thus be examined. The screening results of all DMs and the collective group decisions can be simultaneously observed on the same plane. An individual DM can also examine his/her own screening results and those of the group to identify the differences between individual judgments and the group's collective opinions. An interactive screening procedure for group decisions is represented to provide flexibility so that DMs can check and adjust their preferences iteratively.

Background: The Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire (OMPSQ) is a valid screening tool to identify those musculoskeletal patients at risk of developing chronicity and disability. A Hong Kong Chinese version of the OMPSQ (COMPSQ-HK) was developed with satisfactory construct validity and predictive validity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a 10-item short form of the COMPSQ-HK (COMPSQ-HK10) and examine its measurement properties.

Methods: The 10 items were identified from the suggestion by the original author of OMPSQ. The data of the 10 items were extracted from the main study to develop the COMPSQ-HK conducted from 2010 to 2013. The internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha, test–retest reliability examining intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC${}_{1,1}$), minimum detectable change and 95% limits of agreement, construct validity by correlating COMPSQ-HK10 with pain, disability score, kinesiophobia score and Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 12, and predictive validity investigating receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses with sick leave $>60$ days and return-to-work status at one year were calculated.

Results: A total of 305 back patients and 160 neck patients were recruited with about 30% of patients lost to follow-up at one year. Both the internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha as 0.732 to 0.757) and test–retest reliabilities (ICC${}_{1,1}$ as 0.868 for both back and neck patients) were satisfactory. The correlations between COMPSQ-HK10 and COMPSQ-HK for back and neck patients were excellent (Pearson $r$ as 0.919 and 0.896, respectively, $p<0.001$). The areas under the ROC curves for back and neck patients were similar for COMPSQ-HK10 and COMPSQ-HK, ranging from 0.603 to 0.712. A cut-off score of 54 of COMPSQ-HK10 was recommended in predicting “sick leave of more than 60 days at one year” and “return to work for at least four consecutive weeks at one year”.

Conclusion: The COMPSQ-HK10 has comparable measurement properties with the COMPSQ-HK. It is recommended to use the COMPSQ-HK10 for routine screening to identify patients of back and neck pain at risk of developing chronic pain and disability.

This short communication describes the screening of various metal salts for the preparation of cyano-aqua cobinamides from vitamin B12 in methanol. ZnCl₂ and Cu(NO₃)₂·3H₂O have been identified as most active for this purpose and represent useful alternatives to the widely applied Ce(III) method that requires excess cyanide.