Impact of metabolic status on the association of serum vitamin D with hypogonadism and lower urinary tract symptoms/benign prostatic hyperplasia

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of metabolic status on associations of serum vitamin D with hypogonadism and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS)/benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Patients and methods: A total of 612 men underwent physical examination, biochemical/hormonal blood testing, and transrectal prostate ultrasound. Moreover, the subjects filled out standard questionnaires for identification and grading of LUTS and hypogonadism symptoms. Parameters were statistically compared with independent t-tests and correlation analyses.

Results: Vitamin D levels positively correlated with total testosterone (TT) but not with prostate volume or International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). Patients with metabolic syndrome had significantly lower vitamin D levels, which were not correlated with TT, prostate volume, or IPSS. However, vitamin D was positively correlated with TT, and negatively correlated with prostate volume and quality-of-life IPSS in subjects without metabolic syndrome.

Conclusion: The clinical usefulness of vitamin D for treatment of hypogonadism or LUTS/BPH varies according to metabolic status.     

From smiling to smirking? 3D printing,upgrading and the restructuring of global value chains

3D printing (3DP) has been heralded as a revolutionary technology that can alter the way production is organized across time and space – with important redistributive effects on geography and size of production activities. In this article, we examine the impacts that a widespread adoption of 3DP could have on restructuring, upgrading and distributing value added along manufacturing global value chains (GVC) – with brief examples from the aerospace and automotive industries. We highlight two possible scenarios for GVCs – a complementarity scenario of 3DP and traditional manufacturing overlapping, which would reproduce power relations in GVCs and the current distribution of value added in a ‘smiling curve’; and a substitution scenario of 3DP partly or fully superseding traditional manufacturing, which would have more transformational effects in terms of ‘rebundling’ activities, regionalizing or localizing GVCs, and flattening the smiling curve into a ‘smirk’.     

现行高校分类模式:局限与超越

在对目前高校分类进行考察的基础上,指出现行高校分类模式存在着层次与类型混淆、科研与教学对立、重点与类型匹配、学制与类型挂钩等弊端。提出了高校类型划分的社会功能视角,将高等学校划分为:学术型高校、行业型高校和职业型高校。     

英语写作策略分类探讨

英语写作策略分类研究是一个基础研究课题,对英语写作研究及写作教学实践具有实际价值和现实意义。本文分析了目前研究中的英语写作策略分类存在的问题,并回顾了英语写作及策略的相关理论,提出了英语写作及写作策略的学习和产出性质,最后文章提出了一个便于取舍同时也便于实证研究展开与操作的英语写作策略分类框架。     

政府补贴对企业真实创新绩效的影响——基于中国A股上市公司数据的实证分析

在分析政府补贴政策的特征及其影响企业真实创新绩效的理论机制的基础上,运用A股上市公司数据,检验了政府补贴对企业真实创新绩效的直接和传导效应。研究发现：政府补贴对企业真实创新绩效具有激励效应,且国有企业较非国有企业的创新效应更强;研发资本要素市场扭曲能够强化政府补贴激励企业真实创新绩效的调节作用,并与产权性质联合调节政府创新补贴效果;创新投入与融资约束在政府补贴对企业真实创新绩效的影响中起部分中介效应;政府补贴对企业创新持续性具有负向抑制效应,政府补贴效果受到研发资本要素市场扭曲和产权性质明显的负向调节作用,且创新投入与融资约束在政府补贴对企业持续性创新的影响中起部分中介效应。     

国外儿童语言研究综述

国外儿童语言研究源于儿童心理研究,历经了心理学、语言学双重取向的研究和儿童语言研究的独立学科等过程。期间的研究成果丰富,揭示了儿童语言词汇、语法、语义、语用习得和发展的特点。     

汉字笔迹特征之分类

中国古代有关于汉字笔迹特征的论述,却没有系统的分类。汉字笔迹特征的分类有两大角度:笔迹鉴定的角度和笔迹心理分析的角度。文章阐述了汉字笔迹特征的分类情况,提出了力量特征、空间特征、关系特征和神韵特征的汉字笔迹特征的分类方法。     

康定市吉居藏语所属问题

本文针对分布在四川甘孜州康定市吉居乡的藏族语言进行分析。吉居话的语言所属在以往研究里没有共识,有属于扎巴语的意见和属于康巴藏语的意见。通过与藏文的对比,可见该语言为一个属于康巴藏语崩波岗方言群的土话,并非木雅语或扎巴语。基于与吉居话周边土话的比较,我们提出吉居话属于崩波岗方言群雅砻江组的假设性结论。本文的分析方法亦能作为识别康巴藏语中方言所属的参考。     

莫言小说《丰乳肥臀》中的3D细节描写

3D细节描写是一种立体的3D视角,能将平面的画面直观地显现成3维的立体画面。《丰乳肥臀》中有大量的细节描写,有一部分是明显的3D描写,让读者融入情景、直观感受。尽管莫言不是有意识进行3D描写,但有意识地立体地细节描写写出了3D效果。     

Gender differences in risk behavior and the link to household effects and individual wealth

This study examined the differences in risk behavior between men and women using a household survey that captured the risk preferences of two members in a household and recorded wealth at the individual level instead of the usual approach of representing wealth at the household level. After controlling for commonly used explanatory variables, such as gender, education, age, and wealth, household fixed effects explain about 15% of the variation in risk behavior. This highlights the magnitude of household effects in shaping one’s risk behavior. In general, females in the study area are more risk averse than males based on a risk game with real payout. The gender differences disappear when focusing on only the top land owners. However, even in those cases, females consider themselves more risk averse, supporting results from previous studies that link culture and societal norms to the gender differences in risk behavior.