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Abstract Background Despite the efficacy of absolute ethanol (EtOH), its radiolucency introduces several risks in interventional therapy for treating vascular malformations. This study aims to develop a novel radiopaque ethanol injection (REI) to address this issue. Methods Iopromide is mixed with ethanol to achieve radiopacity and improve the physicochemical properties of the solution. Overall, 82 male New Zealand white rabbits are selected for in vivo radiopacity testing, peripheral vein sclerosis [animals were divided into the following 5 groups (n = 6): negative control (NC, saline, 0.250 ml/kg), positive control (EtOH, 0.250 ml/kg), low-dose REI (L-D REI, 0.125 ml/kg), moderate-dose REI (M-D REI, 0.250 ml/kg), and high-dose REI (H-D REI 0.375 ml/kg)], pharmacokinetic analyses (the blood sample was harvested before injection, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min, 40 min, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, and 8 h after injection in peripheral vein sclerosis experiment), peripheral artery embolization [animals were divided into the following 5 groups (n = 3): NC (saline, 0.250 ml/kg), positive control (EtOH, 0.250 ml/kg), L-D REI (0.125 ml/kg), M-D REI (0.250 ml/kg), and H-D REI (0.375 ml/kg)], kidney transcatheter arterial embolization [animals were divided into the following 4 groups (n = 3): positive control (EtOH, 0.250 ml/kg), L-D REI (0.125 ml/kg), M-D REI (0.250 ml/kg), and H-D REI (0.375 ml/kg); each healthy kidney was injected with saline as negative control], and biosafety evaluations [animals were divided into the following 5 groups (n = 3): NC (0.250 ml/kg), high-dose EtOH (0.375 ml/kg), L-D REI (0.125 ml/kg), M-D REI (0.250 ml/kg), and H-D REI (0.375 ml/kg)]. Then, a prospective cohort study involving 6 patients with peripheral venous malformations (VMs) is performed to explore the clinical safety and effectiveness of REI. From Jun 1, 2023 to August 31, 2023, 6 patients [age: (33.3 ± 17.2) years] with lingual VMs received sclerotherapy of REI and 2-month follow-up. Adverse events and serious adverse events were evaluated, whereas the efficacy of REI was determined by both the traceability of the REI under DSA throughout the entire injection and the therapeutic effect 2 months after a single injection. Results The REI contains 81.4% ethanol (v/v) and 111.3 mg/ml iodine, which can be traced throughout the injection in the animals and patients. The REI also exerts a similar effect as EtOH on peripheral venous sclerosis, peripheral arterial embolization, and renal embolization. Furthermore, the REI can be metabolized at a similar rate compared to EtOH and Ultravist® and did not cause injury to the animals’ heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys and brain. No REI-related adverse effects have occurred during sclerotherapy of VMs, and 4/6 patients (66.7%) have achieved complete response at follow-up. Conclusion In conclusion, REI is safe, exerts therapeutic effects, and compensates for the radiolucency of EtOH in treating VMs. Trial registration The clinical trial was registered as No. ChiCTR2300071751 on May 24 2023.

Ice sheet serves as a crucial indicator for assessing climate change. Mass loss in recent remote sensing-based studies indicated that the Antarctic Peninsula has rapid rates of glacier retreat and speed up of surface velocity. However, observations of seasonal variability of ice speed are limited, and glacier-area changes require multi-temporal monitoring. This study investigated the changes in area and surface velocities of ∼375 glaciers on the northern Antarctic Peninsula (NAP) utilizing satellite images acquired by the Sentinel 1&2 satellites during 2018–2022. The results indicate that the glacier area reduced by approximately 166.1 ± 44.2 km2 (−0.2% ± 0.1% per year) during the study period, with an acceleration after 2020 (−0.4% ± 0.3% per year), and the most dramatic reduction happened on the eastern NAP. The maximum annual ice speeds on the NAP generally exceeded 3500 m per year, while the ice speeds in 2021 were the highest (exceeded 4210 m per year). The ice speed variability in austral autumn was higher than in other seasons, meanwhile the summer ice speeds showed an increasing trend. The glacier G012158E47018N, McNeile Glacier, glacier G299637E64094S and Drygalski Glacier showed the most remarkable ice speed variations represented by high daily velocities and strong fluctuations on their termini. Our results demonstrated that the variations in glacier area and seasonal ice speed on the NAP were responsive to the ice–ocean–atmosphere processes. Therefore, seasonal velocity and area variations should be considered when conducting accurate mass balance calculations, model validations and change mechanism analyses under climate warming scenarios.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to describe the treatment technique, outcomes, and complications of Schobinger stage IV head and neck arteriovenous malformations (HNAVMs) with associated high-output cardiac failure (HOCF) using ethanol and coils with the percutaneous suture technique.MethodsFrom January 2015 to December 2019, 19 patients who had HNAVMs with associated HOCF were treated first with a percutaneous suture of the remarkably dilated dominant drainage vein (RDDOV) and subsequent embolization with coils and ethanol. The percutaneous suture of RDDOV was preferred to be performed, followed by the deployment of coils and the injection of absolute ethanol via transarterial approach, direct puncture approach, or both of them. Treatment outcomes and complication rates were evaluated at follow-up.ResultsA total of 19 patients who experienced HNAVMs with HOCF received 19 percutaneous suture procedures and 84 embolization procedures with ethanol and coils. Complete or >90% shunt reduction of the AVM was achieved in 16 patients. Notably, 19 patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) stage II improved to stage I, and the symptom of dyspnea disappeared after embolization. The symptoms of five patients with bleeding disappeared. All patients presented with cosmetic concerns; Four were cured, and eight had a clearly recognizable improvement. Of note, 19 (100%) patients presented with impairment of daily life, which was resolved. The minor complications were encountered and recovered by the self. No major complications occurred.ConclusionThis study provides evidence that ethanol and coil embolotherapy is effective and safe in treating HOCF caused by HNAVMs with acceptable complications in these cases. The percutaneous suture technique for RDDOV management can act as an adjunct for embolotherapy.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are two major neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Demographic aging is in rapid progress in China. Up-to-date estimates of AD and PD prevalence have not been provided.Methods: Studies that reported the prevalence of AD and PD in China were identified via a systematic database search from 1985 to 2018. Meta-analysis, local polynomial regression and autoregressive integrated moving average model were used for analyses.Results: A total of 99 studies were included in the study with populations of 385,312 and 227,228, respectively for AD and PD. The overall prevalence of AD and PD following age standardization was 3.20% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.17–3.23] and 1.06% (95% CI = 1.02–1.10), respectively in individuals over 60 years old. The rates increased drastically for every 10-years increment of age. The yearly prevalence of AD was predicted to increase from 3.81 to 6.17% in the next 5 years. Significant differences were observed between genders [male to female odds ratio (OR) for AD = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.51–0.64; OR for PD = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.06–1.46], and between education levels (Illiterate to non-illiterate OR for AD = 2.99, 95% CI = 2.38–3.75), but not between urban and rural settings.Conclusion: Our results provide an updated insight into the epidemiology of AD and PD in China and their associated rates and ratios. The findings may facilitate China policy makers and health professionals mitigate the related health issues.

It is well recognized that mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The mtDNA displacement loop (D-loop) region is known to accumulate structural alterations and mutations. To understand how mtDNA variants contribute to the susceptibility to sporadic PD in Chinese, a total of 500 PD patients and 505 controls were recruited from East China, and their D-loop regions were sequenced. A total of 389 variants were detected out of the 1005 subjects. There were 91 variants with frequencies >1%, which included 88 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 2 deletions and 1 insertion. Amongst, 6 SNPs were significantly associated with sporadic PD. Specifically, the SNPs 151T/C, 189G/A, 16086C/T and 16271C/T contributed to increased susceptibility, while 318C/T and 16134T/C were associated with reduced risk for PD. Further analyses of mtDNA haplogroups and their risk for PD occurrence showed that subjects carrying haplogroup A5 were susceptible while haplogroup B5 carriers were more resistant to the disease. In summary, our study for the first time systematically analyzed mtDNA variants by sequencing the D-loop region in a Chinese population to understand their associations with PD. These results demonstrate that mtDNA variants modulate risk for sporadic PD.

CeO2 is an important energy storage material that can be used in solid fuel cells. Adding citric acid can improve the particle distribution of the pyrolytic preparation of CeO2 inside the reactor. Through Fluent, this paper investigated the pyrolysis preparation of CeO2 with the addition of citric acid by adopting the Eulerian multiphase flow model, component transportation model, and standard k-ε turbulence model. The experimental and simulation results suggest that the addition of citric acid can alter the pressure, temperature, and component distributions inside the reactor. When the mass fraction of O2 is 0.3, the concentration distribution effect of the CeO2 component is optimal and its conversation rate is the highest. When the mass fraction of citric acid is 0.04, the concentration distribution effect of the CeO2 component is the best, as witnessed by the high CeO2 concentration at the exit. It was found that an O2 content of 30 wt % and citric acid content of 4 wt % were optimal operating conditions for this technology.

Considering the importance of increasing driving safety, the study of safety is a popular and critical topic of research in the vehicle industry. Vehicle roll behavior with sudden steering input is a main source of untripped rollover. However, previous research has seldom considered road excitation and its coupled effect on vehicle lateral response when focusing on lateral and vertical dynamics. To address this issue, a novel method was used to evaluate effects of varying road level and steering wheel input on vehicle roll behavior. Then, a 9 degree of freedom (9-DOF) full-car roll nonlinear model including vertical and lateral dynamics was developed to study vehicle roll dynamics with or without of road excitation. Based on a 6-DOF half-car roll model and 9-DOF full-car nonlinear model, relationship between three-dimensional (3-D) road excitation and various steering wheel inputs on vehicle roll performance was studied. Finally, an E-Class (SUV) level car model in CARSIM® was used, as a benchmark, with and without road input conditions. Both half-car and full-car models were analyzed under steering wheel inputs of 5°, 10° and 15°. Simulation results showed that the half-car model considering road input was found to have a maximum accuracy of 65%. Whereas, the full-car model had a minimum accuracy of 85%, which was significantly higher compared to the half-car model under the same scenario.

A new class of nickel(II) oxyquinoline--bipyridine complexes, namely, [Ni(La1)2(Lb6)] (Ni1), [Ni(La1)2(Lb2)] ·CH3OH (Ni2), [Ni(La7)2(Lb11)]·2H2O (Ni3), [Ni(La1)2(Lb9)] (Ni4), [Ni(La1)2(Lb8)] (Ni5), [Ni(La2)2(Lb1)] (Ni6), [Ni(La2)2(Lb6)]·CH3OH (Ni7), [Ni(La2)2(Lb11)]·CH3OH (Ni8), [Ni(La2)2(Lb3)] (Ni9), [Ni(La2)2(Lb2)]·CH3OH (Ni10), [Ni(La2)2(Lb5)]·CH3OH (Ni11), [Ni(La2)2(Lb7)] (Ni12), [Ni(La3)2(Lb2)] (Ni13), [Ni(La4)2(Lb4)]·2CH3OH (Ni14), [Ni(La4)2(Lb8)]·2.5CH3OH (Ni15), [Ni(La4)2(Lb11)]·1.5CH3OH (Ni16), [Ni(La5)2(Lb7)] (Ni17), [Ni (La5)2(Lb10)]·CH3OH (Ni18), [Ni(La6)2(Lb11)]·3CH3OH (Ni19), [Ni(La7)2(Lb7)]·2CH3OH (Ni20), [Ni (La7)2(Lb8)]·2CH3OH (Ni21) and [Ni(La7)2(Lb1)]·2CH3OH (Ni22) bearing oxyquinoline (H-La1--H-La7) and bipyridine derivatives (Lb1--Lb11) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, X-ray crystallography, infrared (IR) spectroscopy and electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). An MTT method suggested that the IC50 values of Ni1--Ni22 for A549/DDP tumor cells were 0.25--25.14 μM, but these complexes exhibited low cytotoxicity toward normal HL-7702 cells (>50 μM). Ni2 could induce A549/ DDP tumor cell apoptosis, cause a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP, ΔΨm), and increase the intracellular [Ca2+] and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels better than Ni10, Ni13, and Ni14. Autophagic and western blot assays showed that Ni2, Ni10, Ni13, and Ni14 could induce autophagy and regulate the expression of LC3 II/I, Beclin1, P62, PINK1, and Parkin proteins, and the inducibility activities were in the order of Ni2 > Ni14 > Ni13 > Ni10. Taken together, these results revealed that the nickel(II) oxyquinoline--bipyridine complex Ni2 inhibited cell growth in A549/DDP tumor cells via mitophagy pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments of a sphere oblique impact with and without an initial spin have been carried out to obtain properties of the impact interface. The contact surface is recorded with a piece of thin carbon paper. The interfacial parameters measured are expressed as axis length, contact area and slip ratio. It is found that for the impact between steels the forward spin can make geometrical sizes of the contact surface increase compared with the case of no initial spin, however, just the reverse for the backward spin. The effect of the initial spin becomes more apparent for the impact with a rubber cushion. Whether the initial spin promotes or hinders the sphere sliding depends on the parameters of tangential velocity and force at the interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach for improving the estimation accuracy of the road profile for a vehicle suspension system. To meet the requirements of road profile estimation for road management and reproduction of system excitation, previous studies can be divided into data-driven and model based approaches. These studies mainly focused on road profile estimation while seldom considering the uncertainty of parameters. However, uncertainty is unavoidable for various aspects of suspension system, e.g., varying sprung mass, damper and tire nonlinear performance. In this study, to improve the estimation accuracy for a varying sprung mass, a novel algorithm was derived based on the Minimum Model Error (MME) criterion and a Kalman Filter (KF). Since the MME criterion method utilizes the minimum value principle to solve the model error based on a model error function, the MME criterion can effectively deal with the estimation error. Then, the proposed algorithm was applied to a 2 degree-of-freedom (DOF) suspension system model under ISO Level-B, ISO Level-C and ISO Level-D road excitations. Simulation results and experimental data obtained using a quarter-vehicle test rig revealed that the proposed approach achieves higher road estimation accuracy compared to traditional KF methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modal parameter model acts as an analytical model of tire, because it can represent the entire tire characteristics, when applied to the tire modelling. However, without considering the effect of transfer characteristics of adjacent tread spring elements, the accuracy of modal parameter model may be limited in previous studies. Based on contact mechanics and the modal parameter model, a novel tread model is proposed considering tread transfer characteristics, and then a modified model using the modal parameters was obtained using the novel tread model. The effects of tire external characteristics were analyzed by modifying the modal parameter static vertical model. Finally, the experimental and calculated data were compared, the proposed tread model improved the accuracy of calculation. The results show that the tread transfer characteristics significantly affect contact length, i.e., by improving the predictive accuracy by 50 %, and the effect on improving the squat of tire can be ignored. The developed model may help to optimize tire modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]