Earticle

The continuous quality improvement has become a trend in the contemporary medical society, and that can be achieved by the specialty database implement. Decision-support system in the academic and clinical aspects are included in the process such continuous quality improvement. The database has its limitation in the decision-support due to deficiency of on-line analytic function. The data warehouse offers the sophisticated function for decision-support processes. However, the implement of data warehouse may face a lot of obstacles, included expensive cost and large personnel. We had previously established a database of orthopedics, which collected the patients’ data since 2002. The new system was constructed based on this specialty database, the knowledge architectures was build up via specialists committee and accreditation indicators. The major function was to generate sufficient information for decision-support process in the academic and clinical aspects. The execution efficiency of this system is more effective than database. The unique knowledge architecture can form a distinguishing feature of the department. The cost that saved from personnel and time reduced from reports generation for accreditation is remarkable. The stratification of web-based interface application can be assessed through questionnaires; the outcome is satisfactory as what we previously expected. The sophisticate function of the data warehouse is hard to express in a solitary department of the hospital, especially when they had already owned traditional database. The experience of this system construction can be useful as one option for upgrade of specialty database and a step forward to the goal of the continuous quality improvement.

Biometric identification in context-based applications is a promising research area. However, several legal issues should be taken into account when developing context-based applications conforming to legal notions like privacy, human rights, etc. In this paper, we present a guide to the social guarantees to be built into context-based systems for private relations (between private user and private services) and public relations (between private/public users and public services). The proposal in this paper focuses on a set of goals that context-based applications should achieve to guarantee privacy and human rights.

The concentrations of L-3-hydroxybutyrate (L-3HB) in the serum of aristolochic acid (AA)-treated mice were determined by column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The samples were derivatized with 4-nitro-7-piperazino-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-PZ) and determined fluorimetrically. Total 3-HB derivatives in serum were separated by an ODS column and then introduced to a sample loop for chiral separation by two tandem CHIRALCEL OD-RH columns. The results showed that the concentration of L-3HB in the serum of normal mice was 0.81 ± 0.15 μM compared to that of AA-treated mice with 4.33 ± 2.81 μM after 3 days and 8.65 ± 2.60 μM after 5 days of AA administration (p＜0.05), suggesting that serum L-3HB may be used as an indicator to determine the level of renal damage.

Two high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) systems with a Rheodyne Model 7000 switching valve for separation of D- and L-lactate in biological samples has been reported. However, since the switching valve was rotated manually, so that only 10 samples could be determined within one day. For better efficiency, a circuit for rotating the switching valve automatically, which is including mechanical units of motion, two timers, and electronic control units was designed. Total (D+L)-lactate fluorescent derivatives was separated from others by a TSKgel ODS-80Ts column, when the peak of lactate derivatives appeared in the chromatogram on the ODS column, the valve position was changed by switching and then the isolated lactate derivatives was introduced into the chiral column automatically. Then the D- and L- enantiomers were separated by the chiral column. The utility of the analyzer system was tested for the determination of chiral separation of urinary D, L-lactate in the mouse. It takes about 90 min to analyze one urine sample for a circulation. Before automation, we must turn the switching valve manually when the signal shows up, so that there must be someone always standby and only about 10 samples could be analyzed within one day. With the designed automatic column-switching HPLC system, the switching valve can be automatically turned at the setting time repeatedly and over 15 samples could be determined within one day. The automatic system makes the analysis of D-lactate be timesaving, convenient and reproducible.

The main purpose of this paper is to study the weighting analysis of clinical skin physiology assessment. First of all, we analyze skin's physiological factors, which include four factors: Cutometer, PH value, Sebumeter and Mx16. A detailed description of each influence factors is offered and based on the analysis of 61 experimental objects’ testing numerical values. Then, using rough set method in soft computing theory and the weighting model, we derived the factors’ weighting and relational of skin physical system from the skin characteristic analysis of diverse-aged research objects. This paper also applies Matlab to develop a complete human-machine interface type of toolbox in order to support the calculation and verification the huge data. Finally, some further suggestions are indicated for the research in the future.

Two types of airlift fermenters, conventional (UT-ALF) and modified (CDT-ALF) were investigated to evaluate their performance with respect to baker’s yeast growth. The riser tube of conventional external loop airlift fermenter is replaced by a converging-diverging tube. The new reactor is called modified airlift reactor. The results were compared for the two types of airlift fermenter (UT-ALF and CDT-ALF). Growth rates (dx/dt) were determined from experimental data for both the reactors under identical operating conditions and compared. CDT-ALF always shows higher growth rate compared to UT-ALF under any operating condition. Maximum growth was reported in CDT-ALF at 50 gm/l initial glucose conc. and 1.0 vvm air flow rate which was 20 % higher than UT-ALF. Yield (YX/S) was found to be 0.51which is theoretically very near to maximum achievable value.