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Purpose: The predominant symptom of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) is variable hypertension (HTN); however, not all patients with PPGLs develop HTN. Studies of the clinical characteristics of normotensive patients and which patients are more likely to develop HTN in PPGLs are rare. This study was performed to identify the clinical features to better understand this clinical entity. Methods: All consecutive adult patients with PPGLs were retrospectively enrolled from January 2018 to June 2020. The clinical characteristics of the patients were investigated. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the variables. Results: There were 203 patients in the analysis, including 115 patients with normotension. Fewer patients with normotensive PPGLs had diabetes (p< 0.001) and clinical symptoms (p< 0.001). The 24-h urinary epinephrine (p= 0.002) and 24-h urinary norepinephrine (24hU-NE) concentrations (p< 0.001) were lower, and tumor diameter (p< 0.001) was smaller in patients with normotensive PPGLs. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that diabetes and 24hU-NE concentration were independent and negative risk factors for normotensive PPGLs. The area under the curve of 24hU-NE concentration and diabetes for predicting normotensive PPGLs was 0.788 and 0.634, respectively. Combining diabetes and 24hU-NE concentration into one model, the area under the curve of the model for predicting normotensive PPGLs was 0.817. Conclusions: Normal blood pressure could not exclude PPGLs. Identifying the clinical characteristics of normotensive and hypertensive patients in PPGLs is helpful for risk stratification and individualized assessment and treatment.

Seawater-Hydraulic-Relief-Valve (SWHRV) is a significant control component for Seawater-Hydraulic-System in underwater equipment. It makes the Seawater-Hydraulic-System operate within the relief pressure range and ensure the safety of the whole Seawater-Hydraulic-System. The performance of a SWHRV with an orifice and damping chamber is researched in this paper. The nonlinear mathematic model is built based on the operation principal and the visualization graphic simulation model is built by use of AMESim software. The simulation results indicates it has well static performances and satisfies the industrial requirements. Its rated opening pressure is 100 bar, and the releasing flowrate reaches 100 l/min when the pressure increase to 107 bar. The pressure adjusting range is between 100 bar and 205 bar. And the maximum releasing flowrate is as high as 1600 l/min at the pressure of 205 bar. Due to the damping orifice and chamber, a damping force would generate accompanying with the dynamitic motion of the spool. The opening dynamic characteristic is evidently improved though the shutting time becomes longer in comparison with the relief valve without orifice. The pressure oscillation is eliminated and it could reach the steady state ultimately. Furthermore, the effect of the damping orifice and chamber’s structure parameters on the dynamitic characteristic is analyzed. The orifice’s cross-sectional area is the main effect factor and the influence of the initial chamber volume can be neglected. Finally, the relief valve achieves well dynamic characteristic with the peak time 0.003 s and the transition time 0.015 s. The overshoot is about 20%. It has well performance with fast response, small overshoot and strong robustness.

Wireless power transmission (WPT) for a capsule robot (CR) has always been a challenging issue because the unpredictable CR attitude can destabilize the induced power of the receiving coil onboard the CR. This article proposes a new WPT system for stably powering the CR, and it mainly consists of a rotatable two-dimensional transmitting coil (R2DTC), a one-dimensional receiving coil (1DRC), and an attitude detection module (ADM). The R2DTC can excite a uniform and directional alternating magnetic field (AMF) covering the CR workspace, and the AMF amplitude and direction are controllable in the 3-D space. The 1DRC has a shape of thin-walled ring, for ease of being used as a CR outer shell. The ADM is fixed together with the 1DRC; it can detect the 1DRC attitude in real time and is implemented in a compact size. Referring to the 1DRC attitude, the R2DTC can regulate the AMF to stabilize the 1DRC induced power. This article presents design and implementation details of the WPT system, as well as experiments for its performance evaluation. The R2DTC is verified to supply stable power of 500 mW to the attitude-changing 1DRC at most cases, with a transfer efficiency ranging from 8.15% to 13.53%.

Previous studies about chronic effects of ozone (O3) on cardiovascular mortality are scarce and inconclusive. We aimed to investigate the association between cardiovascular mortality and a broad range of long-term O3exposure levels.

The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index has been recognized as a crucial risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. However, the association between the TyG index and mortality in the general population remains elusive.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains a dominant origin of morbidity, mortality and disability worldwide. Increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS) are key contributor to excessive cardiac injury after AMI. Here we developed an immobilized enzyme with Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) activity cross-link with Zr-based metal-organic framework (ZrMOF) (SOD-ZrMOF) for mitigate ROS-caused injury. In vitroand in vivoevidence indicates that SOD-ZrMOF exhibits excellent biocompatibility. By efficiently scavenging ROS and suppressing oxidative stress, SOD-ZrMOF can protect the function of mitochondria, reduce cell death and alleviate inflammation. More excitingly, long-term study using an animal model of AMI demonstrated that SOD-ZrMOF can reduce the infarct area, protect cardiac function, promote angiogenesis and inhibit pathological myocardial remodeling. Therefore, SOD-ZrMOF holds great potential as an efficacious and safe nanomaterial treatment for AMI.

As high-pressure gas pipe valve systems are widely used in the industrial field, it is significantly important to understand the gas flow characteristics during the opening process of the valves. However, temperature and pressure greatly affect the physical parameters of gases such as density and the specific heat at high pressures, and the gas state will no longer conform to the ideal gas law. In order to investigate the flow characteristics of ultrahigh pressure gas in the pipe under different valves and opening times, a real gas model for the pressure of 40 MPa was established in this paper. Three typical valves were employed, which were the ball valve, the butterfly valve, and the gate valve. In addition, the distributions of gas pressure and velocity in the pipe were studied with the valve opening time ranging from 0.1 to 1 s, as well as the variation rules of pressure, velocity, and flow in the downstream section of the pipeline. The results show that the larger the valve opening time, the smaller the pressure rise rate in the downstream section, and the flow coefficient of the three valves gradually increases during the opening process. When the valve is fully open, the flow coefficients of the ball, gate, and butterfly valves are 0.7 m3/h, 0.26 m3/h, and 0.2 m3/h, respectively.

As emerging therapeutic factors, extracellular vesicles (EVs) offer significant potential for myocardial infarction (MI) treatment. Current delivery approaches for EVs involve either intra‐myocardial or intravenous injection, where both have inherent limitations for downstream clinical applications such as secondary tissue injury and low delivery efficiency. Herein, an injection‐free approach for delivering EVs onto the heart surface to treat MI is proposed. By spraying a mixture of EVs, gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) precursors, and photoinitiators followed by visible light irradiation for 30 s, EVs are physically entrapped within the GelMA hydrogel network covering the surface of the heart, resulting in an enhanced retention rate. Moreover, EVs are gradually released from the hydrogel network through a combination of diffusion and/or enzymatic degradation of the hydrogel, and they are effectively taken up by the sprayed tissue area. More importantly, the released EVs further migrate deep into myocardium tissue, which exerts an improved therapeutic effect. In an MI‐induced mice model, the group treated with EVs‐laden GelMA hydrogels shows significant recovery in cardiac function after 4 weeks. The work demonstrates a new strategy for delivering EVs into cardiac tissues for MI treatment in a localized manner with high retention. Injection free delivery approach developed from this study can be utilized to deliver extracellular vesicles (EVs) in a localized and high retention manner. Delivered EVs are diffused into deep tissue region to achieve an uncompromised therapeutic effect. More importantly, in a myocardial infarction mice model, the cardiac function of mouse shows a significant improvement after the treatment.