Clinical interpretation of the test results for cortisol based on continuous reference intervals with appropriate partitions improves pediatric diagnosis; however, these values are available only for Caucasians. To develop the pediatric reference intervals for Chinese population, we examined the serum cortisol levels in 1,143 healthy Chinese children aged 4–18 years (566 boys and 577 girls), using an IMMULITE 2000 Immunoassay System (Siemens Healthcare GmbH). Phlebotomy was performed at 7–9 a.m. for 284 boys and 287 girls and at 1–3 p.m. for the others. They were divided into four age groups according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guideline EP28-A3c, with the last group further stratified according to sampling time. Separate reference intervals of 49.6–323.7, 70.9–395.3, and 90.1–448.7 nmol/L were established for children aged 4–8, 9–12, and 13–15 years, respectively. Further, reference intervals of 118.2–464.7 and 71.4–446.7 nmol/L were established for morning and afternoon cortisol levels, respectively, in children aged 16–18 years. Further studies are necessary to transfer and validate these reference intervals in other analytical systems and pediatric populations, and to allow for broader applications.
Under the condition of plane strain, a 2D elastoplastic FEM is used to analyze the behavior of composite soil nailing bracing of deep excavation, then finite element method of stability analysis is applied to evaluate the stability of the soil-nail wall. The authors analyzed the difference between composite soil nailing and normal soil nailing. Through analyzing the effect of bracing parameters on the deformation behavior and stability of the excavation, some useful conclusions are obtained to provide certain references for the design and construction of composite soil nailing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.