Prediction of urine culture results by automated urinalysis with digital flow morphology analysis

To investigate the association between the results of urinalysis and those of concurrent urine cultures, and to construct a prediction model for the results of urine culture. A total of 42,713 patients were included in this study. Patients were divided into two independent groups including training and test datasets. A novel prediction algorithm, designated the UTOPIA value, was constructed with the training dataset, based on an association between the results of urinalysis and those of concurrent urine culture. The diagnostic performance of the UTOPIA value was validated with the test dataset. Six variables were selected for the equation of the UTOPIA value: age of higher UTI risk [odds ratio (OR), 2.069125], female (OR, 1.400648), nitrite (per 1 grade; OR, 3.765457), leukocyte esterase (per 1 grade; OR, 1.701586), the number of WBCs (per 1 × 106/L; OR, 1.000121), and the number of bacteria (per 1 × 106/L; OR, 1.004195). The UTOPIA value exhibited an area under the curve value of 0.837 when validated with the independent test dataset. The UTOPIA value displayed good diagnostic performance for predicting urine culture results, which would help to reduce unnecessary culture. Different cutoffs can be used according to the clinical indication.

Research on Vibrating L-Box Test and Yield Value of Low Water-Cement Ratio Concrete

The rheological properties of concrete have a great impact on the workability, and the L-box test can obtain the relationship between the morphology and the yield value of the material under free flow conditions. However, as an elastoplastic fluid, the low water-cement ratio concrete can hardly flow freely without the admixture. The vibrating process is often used in the production to meet the requirements, but the rheological properties of the material under vibration are difficult to measure. A new vibration test method for the flowability of low water-cement ratio concrete is proposed in combination with the L-box idea. The flow morphology and flow velocity of two kind of low water-cement ratio concrete in the L-box are observed under the condition of controlling the vibration frequency. After that, theoretically analyzing the yield value of the material under vibration is applied. The results show that with the increase of vibration frequency, the average flow velocity of the material increases, but the trend is gradually slower. With the increase of vibration frequency, the yield value of low water-cement ratio concrete is much lower than before. This test method can be used in related engineering applications of vibrating compacted concrete.