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Here, we examined the effects of Lonicera japonica extract (LJE) on lactation performance, antioxidant status, and endocrine and immune function in heat-stressed mid-lactation dairy cows. Twenty-four healthy Chinese Holstein mid-lactation dairy cows, all with similar milk yield (30.0 ± 1.0 kg/d), parity (2.5 ± 0.3), and days in milk (105 ± 5 d) were allocated to 4 groups using a randomized complete block design: a negative control group (without LJE supplementation; CON) and groups that received LJE at 14, 28, and 56 g/d. The experiment lasted 10 wk over a hot summer, with a pre-feeding period of 2 wk. Cows were exposed to heat stress, as the average temperature-humidity index was greater than 72. The results showed that LJE had no effect on respiration rate; however, it reduced the rectal temperature of dairy cows experiencing heat stress in both a linear and quadratic manner; the lowest (39.03°C) was recorded for the LJE-28 group, lower than the CON group. Supplementation with LJE did not affect dry matter intake, milk yield, or milk composition. The majority of biochemical parameters in serum were unaffected by supplementation with different amounts of LJE; the exception was creatinine, which was reduced quadratically. Compared with the CON group, serum triiodothyronine concentrations increased significantly in the LJE-28 group. Addition of LJE to the diet increased thyroxine concentrations quadratically; values peaked at 18.62 ng/mL in the LJE-28 group. Furthermore, supplementation with increasing amounts of LJE quadratically increased the activity of glutathione peroxidase and total antioxidant capacity in serum but decreased concentration of malondialdehyde. Although we detected no differences in the concentrations of IgA, IgM, or cytokines, dairy cows in the LJE-28 group had higher IgG and IL-4 concentrations than did cows in the CON group. Supplementation with LJE increased concentrations of IgG and IL-4 in the serum quadratically but decreased that of IL-2. Finally, heat shock protein 72 concentrations in the serum tended to fall quadratically as the amount of LJE increased. In summary, LJE had no negative effects on lactation performance but helped to alleviate heat stress by improving antioxidant status and promoting endocrine and immune functions. Supplementation with LJE at 28 g/d is recommended for lactating dairy cows experiencing heat stress during hot summers. more...

One of the most promising approaches to reach a high gain in inertial confinement fusion is the fast ignition scheme. In this scheme, a relativistic electron beam is generated; this passes through the imploded plasma and deposits parts of its energy in the core. However, the large angular spread of the relativistic electron beam and the poorly controlled compression of the target affect realization of the fast ignition technique. Here, we demonstrate that indirectly driven (that is, driven by X-rays generated inside a gold hohlraum) implosions with a ‘high-foot’ and a short-coast time of less than 200 ps allow us to tightly compress the shell. Furthermore, we show the ability to optimize the symmetry of the imploding shell by changing the hohlraum length, successfully tuning a suitable tube-shaped shell to compensate for the large angular spread of the relativistic electron beam and to enhance the electron-to-core coupling efficiency via resistive magnetic fields. Benefiting from those experimental techniques, a significant enhancement in neutron yield was achieved in our indirectly driven fast ignition experiments. These results pave the way towards high-coupling fast ignition experiments with indirectly driven targets similar to those at the National Ignition Facility. Experiments realizing the indirect-drive fast ignition scheme for inertial confinement fusion are reported. Enabled by a tightly compressed target, an increase of neutron yield is observed. more...

Neuroblastoma is the most frequent tumor of sympathetic nervous system in infants. MiRNAs acted as oncogenes or tumor suppressors in the process of tumor development. We aim at exploring the functions of miRNA in neuroblastoma.Cell viability and invasion were evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assays. Western blot was utilized to assess the protein expression associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers. Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to calculate the mRNA levels of miRNA and gene.MiR-424 was downregulated while doublecortin like kinase 1 (DCLK1) was upregulated in neuroblastoma tissues and cells compared to adjacent non-tumor and normal spongiocyte cells. MiR-424 suppressed cell viability, invasion, and EMT by targeting DCLK1. MiR-424 regulated the expression of DCLK1 by directly binding to the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of DCLK1 mRNA in SK-N-SH and Be2C cells. DCLK1 reversed partial functions of miR-424 in neuroblastoma.MiR-424 suppressed cell viability, invasion, and EMT by directly targeting the 3'-UTR of DCLK1 mRNA. The newly identified miR-424/DCLK1 axis provides novel insights into the pathogenesis of neuroblastoma. more...

This study compared the effects of supplementation of postnatal Holstein dairy calves with low doses of zinc-methionine (Zn-Met) or zinc oxide (ZnO) on growth performance, diarrhea incidence, and the integrity of the small intestinal epithelial barrier. Twenty-four male newborn Holstein dairy calves with similar body weight (42.0 ± 1.2 kg) received raw milk and starter containing zinc at 4.05 mg/kg and 176 mg/kg dry matter, respectively. All animals were randomly allocated to one of three groups (n = 8 per group): a control group (CON, without extra zinc supplementation), a Zn-Met group (receiving 455 mg of Zn-Met per day, equivalent to 80 mg of zinc per day), or a ZnO group (receiving 103 mg of ZnO per day, equivalent to 80 mg of zinc per day). The experiment lasted for 14 days. Zn-Met and ZnO were mixed with milk and fed to the calves. Body weight, height, length, and heart girth were measured on the morning of days 1, 7, and 15. Feed intake and fecal scores were recorded daily during the experimental period. Blood samples were collected on day 15 before morning feeding. Thereafter, the animals were euthanized and their small intestines were collected for examination of intestinal morphology and the expression levels of mRNAs encoding jejunal mucosal tight junction (TJ) proteins. The two different sources of zinc did not influence growth performance or diarrhea incidence in dairy calves during days 1–7 or 1–14 after birth. However, Zn-Met supplementation reduced the diarrhea incidence (35.7 % [Zn-Met] vs. 58.9 % [CON]) and improved the average daily gain (ADG) (500 g/d [Zn-Met] vs. 422 g/d [CON]) and feed efficiency (feed-to-gain ratio: 2.05 [Zn-Met] vs. 2.47 [CON]) significantly during the second week after birth (P more...

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of chromium yeast (CY) on lactation performance, antioxidant status and immune function, and chromium concentrations in the plasma of mid-lactation dairy cows under heat stress. Twenty-four healthy Chinese Holstein mid-lactation dairy cows with similar milk yield (27.0 ± 1.9 kg/day), parity (2 or 3), and days in milk (DIM, 105 ± 15 d) received the same basal diet containing 0.11 mg Cr/kg of DM. All the animals were divided into 2 blocks according to milk yield (block 1 and block 2 for low- and high-producing cows). Cows of block 1 or block 2 each were randomly allocated to four treatments: a negative control group (without CY supplementation, CON), and groups that received CY at 0.18, 0.36, and 0.54 mg Cr/kg DM, respectively. The experiment lasted 10 wk over a hot summer, including a pre-feeding period of 2 wk. Cows were experiencing heat stress as the average temperature-humidity index (THI) is greater than 72. The averagerespiration rates (RR) and rectal temperature (RT) of the cows in CON group were 81.11 ± 1.42 breath/min and 39.66 ± 0.05 ℃, respectively. The results showed that supplementation with CY reduced the RR and RT of dairy cows under heat stress in both a linear and quadratic manner; the lowest was 75.33 ± 0.76 breath/min and 39.40 ± 0.09 ℃ for the CY-0.36 group (P more...

We present the first experimental evidence supported by simulations of kinetic effects launched in the interpenetration layer between the laser-driven hohlraum plasma bubbles and the corona plasma of the compressed pellet at the Shenguang-III prototype laser facility. Solid plastic capsules were coated with carbon-deuterium layers; as the implosion neutron yield is quenched, DD fusion yield from the corona plasma provides a direct measure of the kinetic effects inside the hohlraum. An anomalous large energy spread of the DD neutron signal (∼282 keV) and anomalous scaling of the neutron yield with the thickness of the carbon-deuterium layers cannot be explained by the hydrodynamic mechanisms. Instead, these results can be attributed to kinetic shocks that arise in the hohlraum-wall-ablator interpenetration region, which result in efficient acceleration of the deuterons (∼28.8 J, 0.45% of the total input laser energy). These studies provide novel insight into the interactions and dynamics of a vacuum hohlraum and near-vacuum hohlraum. more...

Background:Chronic extracellular recordings are a powerful tool for systems neuroscience, but spike sorting remains a challenge. A common approach is to fit a generative model, such as a mixture of Gaussians, to the observed spike data. Even if non-parametric methods are used for spike sorting, such generative models provide a quantitative measure of unit isolation quality, which is crucial for subsequent interpretation of the sorted spike trains. New method: We present a spike sorting strategy that models the data as a mixture of drifting t-distributions. This model captures two important features of chronic extracellular recordings—cluster drift over time and heavy tails in the distribution of spikes—and offers improved robustness to outliers. Results: We evaluate this model on several thousand hours of chronic tetrode recordings and show that it fits the empirical data substantially better than a mixture of Gaussians. We also provide a software implementation that can re-fit long datasets in a few seconds, enabling interactive clustering of chronic recordings. Comparison with existing methods: We identify three common failure modes of spike sorting methods that assume stationarity and evaluate their impact given the empirically-observed cluster drift in chronic recordings. Using hybrid ground truth datasets, we also demonstrate that our model-based estimate of misclassification error is more accurate than previous unit isolation metrics. Conclusions: The mixture of drifting t-distributions model enables efficient spike sorting of long datasets and provides an accurate measure of unit isolation quality over a wide range of conditions. more...

The micro-scale hydraulic fracturing is a technique which is used to shorten the preheating period by means of controlling water injection to horizontal wells to create homogenously distributed microcracks in the zone between the two wells. Numerous simulation studies have been previously conducted to understand the growth of the steam chamber, however, the model to simulate mini-frac before preheating is left undone. Especially, counterpart research on land facies ultra-heavy oil sand of Xinjiang oilfield is few. The provides micro-scale hydraulic fracturing model, in this study, is based on experimental analysis in terms of geomechanics theory and mini-frac tests result from field experiment in Xinjiang oilfield. First, laboratory triaxial tests were designed to determinate the mechanical behavior of the oil sand and the mudstone caprock. Drucker-Prager model was used to investigate the two dilation mechanisms, namely, shear dilation and tensile parting, during the simulation of micro-fracturing propagation. Finally, a micro-fracturing model coupled fluid-solid is implemented by with the finite element program ABAQUS, to describe the early SAGD start-up demonstrated on the SAGD well pair in Xinjiang oilfield. The first-hand target of ABAQUS simulation in this study is to evaluate the performance of micro-fracturing process, particularly, to determine the degree of connectivity of injection and production wells. Thereby to predetermine the bottom hole pressure (BHP) and volume of injection in order to provide a specific guidance for work program carried out in oilfield. As the matter of convenience, this study, according to the simulation results, have discussed how to define the extent of the connected parameters to determine the connectivity of the well pairs. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses have been done to realize the different parameters on proficiency of micro-scale hydraulic fracturing in the field. Our works are significantly important for the future development and promote the mini-frac tests to enhance the in-situ thermal recovery in Xinjiang oil field. In addition, the model and method can be implemented for any type of heavy oil field which requires early SAGD start-up to increase the oil recovery. more...

The hippocampus is a brain area crucial for episodic memory in humans. In contrast, studies in rodents have highlighted its role in spatial learning, supported by the discovery of place cells. Efforts to reconcile these views have found neurons in the rodent hippocampus that respond to non-spatial events but have not unequivocally dissociated the spatial and non-spatial influences on these cells. To disentangle these influences, we trained freely moving rats in trace eyeblink conditioning, a hippocampally dependent task in which the animal learns to blink in response to a tone. We show that dorsal CA1 pyramidal neurons are all place cells, and do not respond to the tone when the animal is moving. When the animal is inactive, the apparent tone-evoked responses reflect an arousal-mediated resumption of place-specific firing. These results suggest that one of the main output stages of the hippocampus transmits only spatial information, even in this non-spatial task. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14321.001 more...

First-principles calculations using the density functional theory (DFT) have been carried out to study the geometric and electronic structures of Snn (n = 10–50) clusters. Our findings show that tin clusters (mainly based on Sn10 and Sn15 units) usually favor threadlike growth mode, rather than that of multibranch germanium or amorphous-like lead. Besides, a biatom-by-biatom oscillation with crossovers is shown, with the period between crossovers about ten atoms. Further studies on the electronic structures reveal that the charges of the highest occupied molecular orbital of Sn15 cluster accumulate at both ends, which can form strong covalent bonds with other units and give rise to a threadlike growth mode. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show that Snn (n = 10–50) clusters are usually stable even when the temperature is higher than the melting point of tin bulk. Our studies may provide some insight for an experiment to fabricate tin nanowires. more...

The pharmacokinetics of florfenicol (FF) was studied in plasma after a single dose (40 mg/kg) of intramuscular (i.m.) or oral gavage (p.o.) administration to crucian carp (Carassius auratus cuvieri) in freshwater at 25 °C. Ten fish per sampling point were examined after treatment. The data were fitted to two-compartment open models follow both routes of administration. The estimates of total body clearance (CL(b) ), volume of distribution (V(d) /F), and absorption half-life (T(1/2(ka)) ) were 0.067 L/h/kg and 0.145 L/h/kg, 2.21 L/kg and 1.04 L/kg, 2.75 and 1.54/h following i.m. and p.o. administration, respectively. After i.m. injection, the elimination half-life (T(1/2(β)) ) was calculated to be 38.2h, the maximum plasma concentration (C(max) ) to be 16.82 μg/mL, the time to peak plasma FF concentration (T(max) ) to be 1.50 h, and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) to be 597.4 μg/mL·h. Following p.o. administration, the corresponding estimates were 2.17 h, 29.32 μg/mL, 1.61 h, and 276.1 μg/mL·h. more...

Bioretention system can effectively remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban surface runoff through adsorption. However, the accumulation of PAHs may have potential inhibitory effect on microbial growth and activity in the system, and thus influence the overall performance. In this study, laboratory-scale bioretention cells with three different filter media were constructed. Pyrene, a high-molecular-weight PAH with 4 benzene rings, was periodically introduced into the bioretention cells to evaluate its effect on purification of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and related microbial enzyme activities. The results showed that the removal capability of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was significantly influenced by pyrene contamination, which was difficult to recover at high pyrene level of 90 mg/kg. Increased effluent total nitrogen (TN) concentration were observed in the bioretention cells with high pyrene content, while no significant change on effluent total phosphorus (TP) concentration was detected. The soil dehydrogenase enzyme activity decreased with the increase of pyrene level, which might contribute to the decreasing COD removal rate. The urease activities in the bioretention cells were obviously inhibited by the addition of pyrene, probably leading to the decreasing nitrogen removal capacity of the system. In summary, the bioretention cells containing coal ash and lava rock performed better and were more stable under pyrene contamination. more...

This paper will discuss the design and construction of BESIII, which is designed to study physics in the tau-charm energy region utilizing the new high luminosity BEPCII double ring e+e- collider. The expected performance will be given based on Monte Carlo simulations and results of cosmic ray and beam tests. In BESIII, tracking and momentum measurements for charged particles are made by a cylindrical multilayer drift chamber in a 1 T superconducting solenoid. Charged particles are identified with a time-of-flight system based on plastic scintillators in conjunction with dE/dx (energy loss per unit pathlength) measurements in the drift chamber. Energies of electromagnetic showers are measured by a CsI(Tl) crystal calorimeter located inside the solenoid magnet. Muons are identified by arrays of resistive plate chambers in the steel magnetic flux return. The level 1 trigger system, Data Acquisition system and the event filter system based on networked computers will also be described., 57 pages, 75 figures more...

During the last decade, significant advances in the field of remote detection of ultrasound have taken place. Optical systems with increasing sensitivity for monitoring ultrasound on samples with optically rough surfaces have been developed, so that some designs are now moving from the research laboratory into industrial environments. In this review, a range of optical techniques is presented. These techniques are analysed regarding their use for the measurement of ultrasonic waves. They include the use of optical self-mixing, phase modulators and photorefraction-based interferometers. For the case of established instruments such as two-beam interferometers and Fabry-Perot interferometers, various newly developed configurations with associated ultrasonic transfer functions are described. Many interferometers have broadband frequency responses that extend up to several hundred megahertz. Some systems offer in-plane ultrasonic measurement, whilst most offer out-of-plane measurements. Emphasis is placed on their potential for industrial applications, taking into account the likely sample-surface roughness and environmental vibration. more...

A striking feature of all sorts of catenaries is that they are composed of periodic repetitive substructures. Making use of this feature and the symmetry of the structures, we proposed a macroelement of originality and the coherence dynamic stiffness matrix of the macroelement was formed, based on the solution of beam and flexible cable elements by the boundary element method. A general dynamic analysis procedure for catenaries was also given. Such a method could greatly decrease the costs of computation as the structure would still be treated as one continuous body. On the basis of this paper a computer program simula 3.0, that could analyse the modes of all sorts of catenaries, was developed. more...

Inaccurate field formulas for light transmitted through Fabry - P?rot interferometers have been identified in the open literature. A phase lag between the first emerging ray with respect to the incident ray is generally omitted. Such an error is not important when only one type of emerging ray is investigated. However, when more than one type of ray is monitored simultaneously, such as in the application of the confocal Fabry - P?rot interferometer to the detection of ultrasound, the error leads to an inconsistency between modelling and experimental measurement. This paper presents corrected field formulas for plane and confocal interferometers, and goes on to describe ultrasound transfer functions for a confocal interferometer. These functions are shown to give good agreement with independent experimental measurements. Finally, a variety of confocal inteferometer configurations for ultrasound detection are presented, together with an outline of their essential features including their detection limits. more...

Following the development of a small laser-ultrasound probe, theoretical and experimental parameters have been identified for the modelling of polymer transducers used as ultrasonic receivers. A laser-ultrasound signal is used as a standard input signal to the transducer. Using a o one-dimensional model as an approximation, a system identification approach is used to determine the key parameters of transducer behaviour. The method described in this paper has an advantage over the KLM model, since it does not require precise knowledge of the piezoelectric, dielectric and mechanical properties of the transducer. Nevertheless, it provides an insight into transducer characteristics and therefore has some advantage over a ‘black box’ modelling approach. Experimental validation shows that just three parameters may be used to characterize transducer behaviour over a range of input pressure signals extending to 150 kPa. more...

Characteristics of laser-ultrasound signals are presented from photoacoustic interaction with a layered, optically absorbing medium surrounded by a transparent fluid. A thermoelastic model is presented describing the interaction, with signal predictions in the fluid arising from polymer transducer detection. By taking the optical absorption coefficient and finite layer thickness into account, the amplitude and shape of transient elastic waves are calculated for both forward and backward travelling directions. Additionally, wave interaction with the PVDF transducer has been characterised using a discrete-time algorithm for the transducer response. With just three constants to define transducer response characteristics, the response function may be used to predict voltage signals. Good agreement with experimental waveforms is demonstrated, so that the response function may form the basis of system modelling when miniature laser-ultrasound probes are used in various applications. more...

Some mathematical CAD packages are inadequate in computing the composite functions involving the product of an exponential function and an error function complement. These functions arise in physical applications, such as problems in diffusion. Their importance warrants a composite treatment. If their component factors are computed individually, discontinuities in the evaluations arises, as shown in some CAD packages. An improved algorithm is presented which overcomes this deficiency, and provides a fast evaluation. Such evaluation is successful even using floating point numbers with single precision. The potential for numerical overflow associated with large arguments has been overcome. more...

To detect ultrasound remotely, an optical detection scheme is described which uses a confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer and conjugate detection. A conjugate signal is derived from the interferometer by making simultaneous use of signals derived from optical back reflection, and optical transmission, through the interferometer. Theoretical analysis and experimental results have demonstrated that the new scheme has a higher sensitivity than those described previously. Sensitivity enhancements between 2 and 17 times can be expected. Depending on mirror reflectivity, the frequency response is approximately flat in the range of 10 MHz and above, limited only by the free spectral range of the interferometer device. more...

The analytical magnetization versus time expressions for several flux‐pinning models for high‐Tc superconductors are deduced. Magnetic relaxation and hysteresis studies have been performed on a zone‐melted YBa2Cu3O6+x sample by SQUID. Nonlogarithmic magnetization decay is observed at relatively high temperatures; we attribute this to the nonlinear U(J) relationship which may arise from the local pinning potential Up(x), rather than collective pinning. At 70 K, the experimental data fits extremely well to the expression M(t)=M0+a(T)ln ln(t/τ) which is the result of the exponential U(J) relationship. Based on this U(J) law, the local pinning potential is determined to be Up(x)=U0(x/x0)[1−ln (x/x0)]. The voltage–current E(J) resulting from the observed U(J) relationship, as well as the role of the Y2BaCuO5 (211) phase in zone‐melted YBCO is discussed. more...

The fluoroquinolone antimicrobial drug marbofloxacin was administered to yellow cattle intravenously and intramuscularly at a dose of 2 mg/kg of body weight in a two-period crossover study. The pharmacokinetic properties of marbofloxacin in serum, inflamed tissue-cage fluid (exudate), and noninflamed tissue-cage fluid (transudate) were studied by using a tissue-cage model. The in vitro and ex vivo activities of marbofloxacin in serum, exudate, and transudate against a pathogenic strain of Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida) were determined. Integration of in vivo pharmacokinetic data with the in vitro MIC provided mean values for the area under the curve (AUC)/MIC for serum, exudate, and transudate of 155.75, 153.00, and 138.88, respectively, after intravenous dosing and 160.50, 151.00, and 137.63, respectively, after intramuscular dosing. After intramuscular dosing, the maximum concentration/MIC ratios for serum, exudate, and transudate were 21.13, 9.13, and 8.38, respectively. The ex vivo growth inhibition data after intramuscular dosing were fitted to the inhibitory sigmoid Emax equation to provide the values of AUC/MIC required to produce bacteriostasis, bactericidal activity, and elimination of bacteria. The respective values for serum were 17.25, 31.29, and 109.62, and slightly lower values were obtained for transudate and exudate. It is proposed that these findings might be used with MIC50 or MIC90 data to provide a rational approach to the design of dosage schedules which optimize efficacy in respect of bacteriological as well as clinical cures. more...

In this study, an oral physiologically based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) model was developed for florfenicol in crucian carp (Carassius auratus). Subsequently, oral-to-intramuscular extrapolation was performed and the two models were used to predict florfenicol concentrations in the edible tissues of crucian carp. The oral model gave good predictions in most tissues, except for kidney and liver in which the florfenicol concentrations were underestimated at the later time points. In contrast, using the intramuscular model, the concentrations in the kidney were overestimated at the later time points. Both models had the best predictive ability in the main edible tissue, the muscle. The oral model also accurately predicted the florfenicol concentrations in the muscle after multiple doses. The present study demonstrated the feasibility of predicting florfenicol concentrations in the edible tissues of crucian carp using a route-to-route extrapolation method. more...

A mathematical and physical description of a confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer used for the measurement of ultrasound is presented. It analyses the interferometer performance in terms of ultrasonic transfer functions derived for rays of types 1-4. Instrument performance is modelled for two different schemes of operation, namely transmission and reflection. The frequency response is derived from a combination of ray types. In the case of the reflection scheme, a new beam separation method is suggested, which makes full use of the instrument etendue. Additionally, this latter scheme offers a significant increase in sensitivity over a wide frequency range extending towards the free spectral range of the interferometer, typically exceeding 100 MHz. more...

To study the effect of bortezomib alone or in combination with daunorubicin (DNR) on an mdr1 single-factor drug-resistant leukemia cell line K562/MDR1, a multifactor-resistant cell line K562/A02, a drug-sensitive cell line K562, and primary cells from acute myeloid leukemia patients.The cell lines were exposed to bortezomib, DNR, and bortezomib plus DNR, and cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis rate, and expression of MDR1/BCL2 were analyzed.Bortezomib potently inhibited growth and increased the apoptosis rate in the cell lines. In K562/MDR1 and K562/A02, the calcium channel blocker verapamil reduced the 50% inhibitory concentration and apoptosis rate of DNR, a P-gp protein substrate, but not of bortezomib. Bortezomib plus DNR had synergistic effect on antiproliferation (synergistic ratio1). Apoptosis was substantially more increased by the combination of two drugs than by bortezomib alone. Bortezomib arrested the cell cycles of three cell lines at the G2/M stage, decreased BCL2 mRNA expression, but did not affect MDR1 mRNA levels. The antiproliferative role of bortezomib was also confirmed in primary leukemia cells.Bortezomib is a promising potential therapy for acute leukemia, especially mdr1 drug-resistant leukemia. more...

The pharmacokinetics of florfenicol (FF) was studied in plasma after a single dose (40 mg/kg) of intramuscular (i.m.) or oral gavage (p.o.) administration to crucian carp (Carassius auratus cuvieri) in freshwater at 25 °C. Ten fish per sampling point were examined after treatment. The data were fitted to two-compartment open models follow both routes of administration. The estimates of total body clearance (CL(b) ), volume of distribution (V(d) /F), and absorption half-life (T(1/2(ka)) ) were 0.067 L/h/kg and 0.145 L/h/kg, 2.21 L/kg and 1.04 L/kg, 2.75 and 1.54/h following i.m. and p.o. administration, respectively. After i.m. injection, the elimination half-life (T(1/2(β)) ) was calculated to be 38.2h, the maximum plasma concentration (C(max) ) to be 16.82 μg/mL, the time to peak plasma FF concentration (T(max) ) to be 1.50 h, and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) to be 597.4 μg/mL·h. Following p.o. administration, the corresponding estimates were 2.17 h, 29.32 μg/mL, 1.61 h, and 276.1 μg/mL·h. more...

A laser confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer (CFPI) is described for the sensing of ultrasound in opaque solids having optically rough surfaces. Stabilization was required to eliminate the optical frequency drift arising from various sources in both the CFPI and the argon-ion laser. Measurements showed that conventional proportional control was inadequate when using feedback to the piezoelectrically-controlled interferometer mirror. Instead, a cascade control system was developed with a digital proportional-integral controller as the primary controller and an analogue proportional controller as the secondary controller. Two control loops were nested, with the secondary loop used to stabilize fast fluctuations and the primary loop used to eliminate the drift. When the interferometer mirror reaches the limit of its dynamic range, the intelligent digital controller was able to reset automatically the interferometer at a new operating point within its proper dynamic range. In this way, it is shown that the interferometer sensor can be used in a fully automatic way for on-line monitoring applications. more...

Objective: We investigated the effect of peroxisome proliferator activator receptors α (PPARα) on cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by glucose and fatty acid, and if high glucose levels could increase fatty acid-induced apoptosis. Methods: Cardiomyocytes were maintained in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium and divided into 5 groups: Group N (control Group); Group G (exposed to 25.5 mmol/l glucose); Group L (exposed to 5 mmol/l glucose, fatty acid); Group H (exposed to 25.5 mmol/l glucose and fatty acid); Group I (exposed to 25.5 mmol/l glucose, fatty acid and Wy 14643). Apoptosis was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling. Immunocytochemistry staining detected PPARα’s expressing, and western blotting detected PPARα and nuclear factor κB’s (NF-κB) protein level. Results: Exposure to fatty acid resulted in a significant increase of cardiomyocytes apoptosis, with the extension of NF-κB formation, whereas exposure to 25.5 mmol/l glucose had no influence on the apoptosis rate. However, combination with fatty acid and high glucose concentration had induced more apoptosis with the up-regulation of NF-κB formation. The fatty acid and glucose-induced effects were improved by Wy14643, with down-regulation of NF-κB formation. Conclusion: These results suggested that in neonatal cardiomyocytes, fatty acid and glucose in combination with fatty acid induced apoptosis via NF-κB formation and activation of apoptosis pathways; glucose in combination with fatty acid induce more apoptosis rate for the more NF-κB formation, activation of the PPARα can reverse such apoptosis effect. The results also suggest that gluco-lipotoxicity may play a central role in the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy, and PPARα-agonist may be an effective drug in treating the diabetic cardiomyopathy more...

Through-transmission ultrasonic NDT measurements have been performed with a non-contact laser combination system. High power (~2 MW) laser pulses were used for the generation of longitudinal pulses in metallic samples. On reaching the far surface, ultrasound was detected with a 50 cm confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer. The interferometer analysed speckle from back-scattered laser light so that measurements could be made from samples with only a machine finish. Signal-to-noise ratios were sufficiently good for two-dimensional scans to be performed, producing optical images of artificial defects. For improved image quality, signals were normalised taking into account changes in sample surface reflectivity. Median filtering was also used. Results show that images of 4-mm diameter drill holes can be obtained with resolutions of ±0·5 mm. more...

A non-contact scanning system is described which is capable of producing two-dimensional ultrasonic images of defects in opaque materials. Lasers are used both for generation and detection of ultrasound. Short-duration high-power ( approximately 2 MW) laser pulses are used to generate ultrasound on the surface of a sample. Such ultrasound in the form of steps or pulses propagates through the sample and after interaction with defects are monitored by a 50 cm confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer. The interferometer uses back-scattered laser light from the sample's surface, which can be diffuse in nature. System sensitivity is sufficient for applications on optically rough surfaces. Two-dimensional scans have been performed, leading to computer-generated images of artificial defects in aluminium. more...

The thickness of thin polyester film has been measured using ultrasonic Lamb waves which were generated and detected using noncontacting laser techniques. The uncertainty analysis of such a measurement technique has been examined. Systematic errors in both time of flight and distance between laser generation and detection points were estimated and reduced with the assistance of computerized X‐scan translation techniques. Thickness measurements with uncertainties of less than 3% have been achieved. more...

A modulated continuous wave diode laser was used to generate ultrasonic Lamb waves in a thin steel plate. No surface damage was evident on the sample, a feature due to the low power density of the acoustic source in contrast to the high power pulsed laser systems usually employed for laser-ultrasound generation. The Lamb waves were monitored using a surface bonded optical fiber interferometer whose output was correlated with the pseudorandom binary sequence used to modulate the laser diode. In this fashion, it was possible to record a time domain history of the ultrasonic propagation in the sample. more...

Difficulties exist in wiring between trailer and tractors for monitoring vehicle refrigerator. To solve this problem, an approach of wireless monitoring is adopted in this study. In order to use proper wireless technology for the particular case of trailer-tractor, the technologies of wireless communications for personal area network are reviewed in this paper. The strategies for the wireless monitoring vehicle refrigerator are developed and implemented in this study. The prototype of wireless monitoring system is presented in this paper. more...

Convenient and reliable temperature monitoring systems are increasingly demanded in vehicle refrigerators. However, difficulties exist in wiring between temperature recorders and sensors in vehicles such as trailer-tractor. To solve this problem, this paper provides a novel solution: wireless temperature sensors using Bluetooth. A prototype of the wireless temperature sensors has been developed. The technologies and mathematical models used are presented in this paper. more...

To detect ultrasound remotely, an optical detection scheme is described which uses a confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer and conjugate detection. A conjugate signal is derived from the interferometer by making simultaneous use of optical back-reflection, and optical transmission, through the interferometer. Theoretical and experimental results have demonstrated that the new scheme has higher sensitivity than established transmission schemes. Sensitivity enhancements between 2 and 17 times can be expected. Depending on mirror reflectivity, the frequency response is approximately flat in the range of 10 MHz and above, limited only by the free spectral range of the interferometer device. more...

This paper presents an investigation into technologies of wireless intelligent sensor networks for refrigerated delivery vehicle. The investigation has reviewed the latest wireless communication technologies such as Bluetooth and Zigbee, and artificial intelligent technologies such as neural network, fuzzy logic and neuro-fuzzy. A proposed solution of future sensor networks for cold chain area has been addressed. more...

To observe the efficacy and safety of co-artemether and one of its components benflumetol (two formulations) in the treatment of patients with falciparum malaria.Adopting double-blining, randomization and comparative method, all patients were hospitalized and observed for 28 days after treatment.Of 150 patients, 51 patients were treated with co-artemether group(A), 50-patients were treated with benflumetol tablet group(B), 49 patients were freated with benflumetol capsule group(C). The mean fever clearance times for groups A, B and C were 17.1 +/- 8.6, 34.0 +/- 23.2 and 29.4 +/- 24.9 hours, respectively; the mean parasite clearance times were 29.7 +/- 8.9, 51.6 +/- 14.1 and 54.7 +/- 17.4 hours respectively; the cure rates in 28 days for groups A, B and C were 98.2%, 92.0% and 95.8%, respectively. No apparent side-effect was observed.Co-artemether and benflumetol (2 formulations) are effective for the treatment of patients with falciparum malaria but co-artemether is more effective than benflumetol (2 formulations) in terms of controlling symptoms and killing parasites. more...

To obtain the genetic information on Necator americanus and to search for the purpose genes.mRNA was isolated from the third stage larvae of Necator americanus maintained in hamsters. Double strand cDNA was synthesized and ligated to lambda ZAPII vector to construct the cDNA library. Expressed sequence tages (ESTs) were obtained by single pass sequencing of randomly isolated cDNA clones from the established library.A cDNA library of N. americanus was successfully constructed with high recombinant efficiency. The titer of unamplified library was 1 x 10(7). The insert size was about 750-3,000 bp. Of 11 ESTs obtained from the library, 7 have a significant homology with certain functional genes.A high quality and high representative cDNA library of N. americanus was constructed at the first time and some functional genes were identified from the library by ESTs. more...

To identify the genetic diversity between Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus.Mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene was amplified from genomic DNA of human hookworms collected from infected patients in Hejiang County, Sichuan Province, and the purified PCR products were directly sequenced by using Licor auto-sequencer.The PCR products were about 700 bp. Alignment of CO1 gene fragment sequences showed 89.7% similarity between Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus, but still certain nucleotide variations (10.3%) existed.CO1 gene sequence can be used as a marker to identify the two species of human hookworms. more...

To investigate the relationship of heart function and lung function in RHD patients.We compared heart posterior-anterior film, lung function test results, PaO(2) and O(2) Sat of blood gas analysis before and after motion before operation, early postoperation, late postoperation, according to heart function and cardiothoracic ratio in 98 RHD patients.With worsening of heart function and enlargement of cardiothoracic ratio, lung function worsened too. PaO(2) and O(2) Sat did not change apparently. The lung function of early postoperation did not improve significantly. The lung function improved gradually with better heart function and shortening of heart in later postoperation. But small air way obstruction and diffuse function and function residue volume changed slowly.Heart function affects the lung function directly. They were positively correlated. more...