Prediction of body composition of Iberian pigs by means bioelectrical impedance

Twelve barrow Iberian pigs with an average weight at slaughter of 109.2kg were used to evaluate bioelectrical impedance procedures to predict the body composition of live pigs. Twelve hours before slaughter pigs were weighed, and a four-terminal body composition analyser (Model BIA-101, RJL Systems, Detroit, MI) was utilized to determine resistance (R(s) in Ω) and reactance (X(c) in Ω). The length values (L in cm) were measured between detector electrodes with a flexible steel tape. Twenty four hours after slaughter the left side of each carcass was separated using a scalpel into fat, lean, bone and skin. Multiple regression equations for estimating lean, fat, bone and skin amounts and lean, fat, bone and skin proportions with respect to slaughter weight were calculated. The live weight (LW) and L independent variables predicted 85.3% and 64.3% of the variability of the lean amount and lean proportion, respectively. The LW, X(c) and L variables accounted for 96% and 91.6% of the variation in fat quantity and fat proportion, respectively. The LW and R(s) accounted for 58.9% of the variation in bone amount, and the same variables predict 79.1% of the variability of bone percentage. The R(s) and L variables explained 68% of the variability of skin quantity and LW, R(s) and X(c) predicted 83.1% of the variation of skin proportion. Results from this experiment indicate that bioelectrical impedance may be of interest for body composition prediction of live Iberian pigs.     

Lead exposure is associated with a delay in the onset of puberty in South African adolescent females: Findings from the Birth to Twenty cohort

Introduction

One of the suggested, yet under-researched, causes of pubertal delay is lead exposure. In South Africa blood lead levels are generally higher than in resource-rich countries. Thus the effects of lead exposure on pubertal development may be significant.

Objective

The objective of this study is to determine the association between lead exposure and pubertal development in adolescent females in the Birth to Twenty cohort (Bt20).

Methods

Bt20 is a Johannesburg based birth cohort study that commenced in 1990 and includes 1682 girls. At 13 years of age venous blood samples were collected from 725 adolescent female participants for lead content analyses; of these, 712 had menarche data. Pubertal measurement was based on age of menarche and self-reported Tanner staging for pubic hair (n = 684) and breast development (n = 682).

Results

The mean blood lead level for the sample was 4.9 μg/dl. Fifty percent had blood lead levels < 5.0 μg/dl, 49% were ≥ 5.0 μg/dl and 1% was > 10.0 μg/dl. The average age of menarche was 12.7 years. At 13 years, 4% and 7% had reached Tanner stage 5 for pubic hair and breast development, respectively. Analyses showed that higher blood lead levels were associated with significant delays in the onset of puberty (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The study found that higher blood lead levels were associated with a delay in the onset of puberty, after adjustment for confounders. Lead exposure in resource-poor countries is generally higher compared to resource-rich countries and thus the effects of high blood levels have personal and public health significance.     

大型转炉炉体温度场有限元仿真试验

应用大型有限元软件ANSYS,对采用镁白砖和镁碳砖炉衬材料时的炉体温度场进行仿真,结果显示炉体材料采用镁碳砖后,炉身部位炉壳的温度已超出其材料蠕变温度,指出该部位采用冷却的必要性,并模拟了炉身采用冷却措施后的炉体温度场。仿真结果与实测值相符。     

试析传统民居建筑中的身体观

该文以传统民居建筑为出发点,以西方思想为参照,反观古代独特的身体观念,探讨了传统民居建筑所体现的身体观念,并透过身体观念的诸层次与不同面向,列举传统民居与身体之对应关系,分析了身体观的转化与投射的思维,了解隐藏在传统民居建筑中的深层涵意.     

车身薄板件功能评估的数值模拟

车身薄板件的功能评估,是指在样车制造过程中,通过在检验夹具上拼装预生产工装制造的零件并用铆钉连接,以基准、公差、测点等为基本标准,评价零件尺寸可接受性的活动.为了减少工程师的体力劳动、缩短评估周期,建立了车身薄板件功能评估的数值模拟方法.通过分析功能评估中的尺寸偏差源,指出尺寸偏差的简化模拟方法;同时比较了铆钉和点焊这两种连接方法的不同点.基于上述分析并以功能评估的实际过程为根据,建立了功能评估的数值模拟流程.某轿车A柱的实际功能评估结果表明,所建立的数值模拟方法是可行并有效的.     

Neuropathological Features of Gaucher Disease and Gaucher Disease with Parkinsonism

Deficient acid β-glucocerebrosidase activity due to biallelic mutations in GBA1 results in Gaucher disease (GD). Patients with this lysosomal storage disorder exhibit a wide range of associated manifestations, spanning from virtually asymptomatic adults to infants with severe neurodegeneration. While type 1 GD (GD1) is considered non-neuronopathic, a small subset of patients develop parkinsonian features. Variants in GBA1 are also an important risk factor for several common Lewy body disorders (LBDs). Neuropathological examinations of patients with GD, including those who developed LBDs, are rare. GD primarily affects macrophages, and perivascular infiltration of Gaucher macrophages is the most common neuropathologic finding. However, the frequency of these clusters and the affected anatomical region varies. GD affects astrocytes, and, in neuronopathic GD, neurons in cerebral cortical layers 3 and 5, layer 4b of the calcarine cortex, and hippocampal regions CA2–4. In addition, several reports describe selective degeneration of the cerebellar dentate nucleus in chronic neuronopathic GD. GD1 is characterized by astrogliosis without prominent neuronal loss. In GD-LBD, widespread Lewy body pathology is seen, often involving hippocampal regions CA2–4. Additional neuropathological examinations in GD are sorely needed to clarify disease-specific patterns and elucidate causative mechanisms relevant to GD, and potentially to more common neurodegenerative diseases.     

高龄女子轮椅使用者裤装研究

针对高龄女子轮椅使用者难以找到适体裤装的问题,选取了下肢无器质性病变,长距离才需乘坐轮椅的这部分高龄群体为代表进行研究。在人体测量的基础上,运用SPSS软件对测体数据进行数理统计分析,把握高龄女子轮椅使用者的体型特征与关键尺寸。然后结合特体补正知识,通过分割线与省道的设计,以及纸样的切展与折叠,在立姿裤装的基础上,设计并制作出舒适性、合体性、实用性方面满足穿着要求的坐姿轮椅裤装。     

Automotive door design with the ULSAB concept. using structural optimization

Weight reduction for an automobile body is sought to achieve fuel efficiency and energy conservation. Recently, the UltraLight Steel Auto Body (ULSAB) concept is suggested using a few methods. ULSAB pursues a lightweight automotive with steel structure. Tailor welded blank (TWB) is one of the ULSAB methods and TWB can be utilized for an automobile door. Optimization technology is applied to the inner panel of a door which is made by TWB. A design process is appropriately defined for the inner panel. The design starts from an existing component. At first, the inner reinforcements are removed to use TWB technology. In the conceptual design stage, topology optimization is conducted to find the distribution of the variable thickness. The number of parts and the welding lines are determined from the topology design. In the detailed design process, size optimization is carried out to find thickness while the stiffness constraints are satisfied. Size optimization is performed based on the welding lines determined from topology optimization. The final parting lines are tuned by shape optimization. The results from size optimization are considered constant in shape optimization. A commercial optimization software GENESIS is utilized for the optimization processes. Received November 10, 2000     

BODY SURFACE EXPOSURE DISTRIBUTION OF EXAMINEES RECEIVED UPPER G．I．T．X－RAY EXAMINATION

ＢＯＤＹ　ＳＵＲＦＡＣＥ　ＥＸＰＯＳＵＲＥ　ＤＩＳＴＲＩＢＵＴＩＯＮ　ＯＦ　ＥＸＡＭＩＮＥＥＳ　ＲＥＣＥＩＶＥＤ　ＵＰＰＥＲ　Ｇ．Ｉ．Ｔ．Ｘ－ＲＡＹ　ＥＸＡＭＩＮＡＴＩＯＮＦｅｎｇＤｉｎｇｈｕａ（冯定华）ａｎｄＣｈｅｎｇＱｉｊｕｎ（程祺钧）（Ｆａｃｕ...     

Part-attentive kinematic chain-based regressor for 3D human modeling

As the demand for realistic representation and its applications increases rapidly, 3D human modeling via a single RGB image has become the essential technique. Owing to the great success of deep neural networks, various learning-based approaches have been introduced for this task. However, partial occlusions still give the difficulty to accurately estimate the 3D human model. In this letter, we propose the part-attentive kinematic regressor for 3D human modeling. The key idea of the proposed method is to predict body part attentions based on each body center position and estimate parameters of the 3D human model via corresponding attentive features through the kinematic chain-based decoder in a one-stage fashion. One important advantage is that the proposed method has a good ability to yield natural shapes and poses even with severe occlusions. Experimental results on benchmark datasets show that the proposed method is effective for 3D human modeling under complicated real-world environments. The code and model are publicly available at: https://github.com/DCVL-3D/PKCN_release