ABSTRACT
Background Noise is the most common occupational hazard in the automobile manufacturing industry with the most workers exposed. Automobile manufacturing industry is a high-risk industry for noise-induced hearing loss. Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics of noise-induced hearing loss among workers in automobile manufacturing industry and explore related influencing factors. Methods A questionnaire survey, individual noise recording, and pure tone audiometry were conducted among workers (n=656) exposed to noise from five automobile manufacturing enterprises. The data on age, sex, exposure duration, noise intensity, kurtosis, and hearing loss were obtained. The positive rates of high-frequency noise-induced hearing loss (HFNIHL) and speech-frequency noise-induced hearing loss (SFNIHL) were calculated, and each factor was compared between workers with and without HFNIHL. Chi-square test and analysis of trend were conducted among different groups of age, sex, exposure duration, A-weighted equivalent continuous sound pressure level normalized to a nominal 8-hour working day (LAeq,8h), and kurtosis. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the factors influencing the positive rates of HFNIHL and SFNIHL. Results The exposure rates of non-Gaussian noise was 73.6%. The positive rates of HFNIHL and SFNIHL were 32.6% (214 workers) and 6.7% (44 workers), respectively. The HFNIHL workers showed older age, higher proportion of male, longer exposure duration, higher noise intensity (LAeq,8 h), and increased kurtosis than those without HFNIHL (P<0.05). The positive rates of HFNIHL increased with the increase of age, exposure duration, LAeq,8 h, and kurtosis (\begin{document}$ {\chi
ABSTRACT
Objective:To assess the change and inter-individual variation in body temperature and analyze related variables among Chinese adults.Methods:Data of of 9 184 participants[mean age(52.38±14.69) years, 4 350 men and 4 834 women] were obtained from the China Health and Nutrition Survey(CHNS) 2015. Descriptive statistics and liner regression models were deployed in the analysis.Results:Overall, the mean normal axillary body temperature was 36.43℃, higher temperature was observed in men(0.032℃, P<0.001) than women. Using the multivariate linear regression model, it was revealed that age, region, territory, season, height, and hip circumference were significantly associated with body temperature. Higher individual temperature was observed in urban(0.028℃) than rural, in southern(0.040℃) than northern, and in winter(0.054℃) than autumn. Body temperature was also negatively associated with age(-0.001℃ per year), hip circumference(-0.001℃ per cm), but is positively associated with height(0.003℃ per cm). With other variables controlled, body temperature was related to whether there is myocardial infarction(ever vs never 0.187℃). Conclusion:In China, the current normal body temperature is lower than that established in 19th century(37℃), and body temperature is related to several factors. When screening and diagnosing a disease, inter-individual variance should be fully considered.
ABSTRACT
Background Equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level is not appropriate for evaluating the risk of non-steady noise exposure, and need to be corrected by noise time-domain structure, but the correction method and its applicability need to be discussed. Objective To validate the application of the kurtosis-adjusted normalization of equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level to a normal 8 h working day ( LAeq,8 h) in assessing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), and to improve the methods for assessing occupational hearing loss associated with different types of noise. Methods Audiometric and shift-long noise exposure data were acquired from a population(n=2 466) of screened workers exposed to noise between 70 dB(A) and 95 dB(A) from 6 industries in China. The cohort data were collapsed into 1 dB(A) bins, and the average kurtosis and noise-induced permanent threshold shifts at 3 kHz, 4 kHz, and 6 kHz (NIPTS346) within 1 dB(A) were calculated respectively. According to the existing correction method, the adjustment coefficient λ was calculated by multiple regression, and LAeq,8 h was corrected by λ (L'Aeq,8 h). The entire cohort was divided into K1 (≤10; steady noise), K2 (10~50; non-steady noise), and K3 (＞50; non-steady noise) groups based on mean kurtosis levels. Predicted NIPTS346 was calculated using the ISO 1999 model for each participant and the actual measured NIPTS346 was corrected for age and gender. The underestimated NIPTS346 was the difference between the values of estimated NIPTS346 and the corresponding actual NIPTS346. To validate the applicability of L′Aeq,8 h in evaluating NIHL, the correlation between L′Aeq,8 h and HFNIHL, and the mean difference between real NIPTS346 and estimated NIPTS346 were analyzed. Results The adjustment coefficient λ was determined at 5.43. The results of multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the relationship between L'Aeq,8 h and HFNIHL increased from 6.6% to 9.6% after the kurtosis adjustment. The DRR of LAeq,8 h and HFNIHL showed that the percentage of HFNIHL decreased after the adjustment of kurtosis in the non-steady noise groups, and the regression lines of the non-steady noise groups approached that of the steady noise group. The R2 of the K2 group increased from 0.935 3 to 0.986 3, and the R 2 of the K3 group increased from 0.905 6 to 0.951 6. Under the un-adjusted condition, the NIPTS346 underestimation for the K3 group was significantly higher than that for the steady noise group (t=−3.23, P=0.001). After the LAeq,8 h was adjusted by kurtosis, the NIPTS346 underestimation decreased significantly in the three kurtosis groups (K1: t=6.78, P＜0.001; K2: t=14.31, P＜0.001; K3: t=11.06, P＜0.001). There was no significant difference in the degree of underestimation between the three kurtosis groups (K1 vs K2: t=−0.22, P=0.830; K1 vs K3: t=−1.40, P=0.205) as the curves of the three kurtosis groups were nearly overlapped. Conclusion The kurtosis-adjusted LAeq,8 h can effectively estimate the hearing loss associated with non-steady state noise.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the changes of T lymphocyte subsets in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD). To evaluate the clinical efficacy of Xuebijing injection in the treatment of AECOPD and its influence on T lymphocyte subsets. Methods From October 2016 to October 2017, 58 AECOPD patients and 20 healthy subjects at the same period in the First People's Hospital of Luoyang were selected. The levels of T - lymphocyte subsets were detected in healthy subjects and AECOPD patients. The 58 cases patients were divided into observation group(n = 28) and control group(n = 30) using random number table. The control group was treated with conventional therapy. The observation group was treated with Xuebijing injection on the basis of the control group. The scores of CAT,APACHE Ⅱ in both two groups before and after treatment were evaluatedThe levels of C - reactive protein(CRP),procalcitonin(PCT) and T lymphocyte subsets were compared between the two groups before and after treatment. Results The levels of CD +3 ,CD +4 and CD +4 / CD +8 in the peripheral blood of patients with AECOPD were (0. 64 ± 0. 10)％ ,(0. 33 ± 0. 14)％ and (0. 95 ± 0. 48),respectively,which of the healthy controls were (0. 70 ± 0. 10)％ , (0. 41 ± 0. 17)％ , (1. 25 ± 0. 51), respectively. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups(t = 2. 09,7. 19,2. 32,all P < 0. 05). After treatment,the scores of CAT and APACHE Ⅱ in the observation group were (13. 2 ± 3. 6)points and (14. 1 ± 3. 8)points,those in the control group were (16. 6 ± 4. 1) points and (16. 9 ± 4. 2) points. The scores of CAT and APACHE Ⅱ in the two groups after treatment were lower than those before treatment(observation group: t = 3. 08,13. 25,control group: t = 2. 94,11. 31,all P < 0. 05). There were significant differences in CAT and APACHE Ⅱ scores between the two groups after treat-ment(t = 8. 90,3. 27,all P < 0. 05). The levels of CRP,PCT,CD +3 ,CD +4 and CD +4 / CD +8 in the control group were (22. 4 ± 8. 8)mg/ L,(0. 9 ± 0. 6)μg/ L,(0. 67 ± 0. 09)％ ,(0. 36 ± 0. 13)％ ,(1. 12 ± 0. 50),respectively,which in the observation group were (15. 6 ± 6. 3)mg/ L,(0. 5 ± 0. 6)μg/ L,(0. 72 ± 0. 82)％ ,(0. 43 ± 0. 13)％ ,(1. 43 ± 0. 47),respectively. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant(t = 2. 75,6. 16,2. 03,2. 69, 4. 90,all P < 0. 05). Conclusion Patients with AECOPD have immune dysfunction. Xuebijing injection is effective in the treatment of patients with AECOPD. The mechanism may be related to the regulation of immune function.
ABSTRACT
As the complexity of samples and experimental processes, the repeatability of mass spectrometry experiments is still not satisfactory, the results of peptide identification and quantification show high randomicity), the probability of peptide being detected by mass spectrometry in proteome research, especially in quantitative proteomic study, has received much attention. Therefore, a lot of experimental researches have been done, as well as a number of computational prediction methods have been developed. In this article, we summarized the important factors impacting the peptide detectability, investigated the existing prediction methods) and reviewed their applications in experimental study.
ABSTRACT
With thousands of sequenced 16 S rRNA genes available,and advancements in oligonucleotide microarray technology,the detection of microorganisms in microbial communities consisting of hundreds of species may be possible.The existing algorithms developed for sequence-specific probe design are not suitable for applications in large-scale bacteria detection due to the lack of coverage,flexibility and efficiency.Many other strategies developed for group-specific probe design focus on how to find a unique group-specific probe that can specifically detect all target sequences of a group.Unique group-specific probe for each group can not always be found.Hence,it is necessary to design non-unique probes.Each probe can specifically detect target sequences of a different subgroup.Combination of multiple probes can achieve higher coverage.However,it is a time-consuming task to evaluate all possible combinations.A feasible algorithm using relative entropy and genetic algorithm (GA) to design group-specific non-unique probes was presented.