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The myodural bridge (MDB) complex are fibrous bridges that functionally connect the spinal dura mater to the suboccipital musculature. Previously, we described the maturational sequence of the MDB within the posterior atlanto-occipital interspace of the rat. The present paper describes the morphology and developmental maturation of the MDB within the posterior atlanto-axial interspace of the rat. In the present study, E18 embryonic rats, newborn rats, and adult rats were selected to evaluate the development and growth of the MDB. Within the posterior atlanto-axial interspace of the rat, the fibers of the MDB and its associated muscles, in the embryonic rat, were observed to be scarce and lightly stained. In contrast, these same structures observed in the postnatal rat were quite apparent and robustly stained. After birth, it was observed that MDB originated from the rectus capitis dorsal major muscle, extended forward and downward, and finally merged with the posterior atlanto-axial membrane. As the rats developed and matured, the observed MDB fibers passing through the posterior atlanto-axial interspace appeared denser and more organized. This study evidenced that the MDB fibers within the posterior atlanto-axial interspace were primarily composed of type I collagen fibers in the postnatal rat. By observing the suboccipital region, we are able to hypothesize that the MDB complex plays a key role in maintaining the subdural space located within the upper cervical segment during growth and development. This study provides a morphological basis for future research on the function of the MDB complex.

State-of-the-art medical studies proved that long noncoding ribonucleic acids (lncRNAs) are closely related to various diseases. However, their large-scale detection in biological experiments is problematic and expensive. To aid screening and improve the efficiency of biological experiments, this study introduced a prediction model based on the nearest neighbor concept for lncRNA–disease association prediction. We used a new similarity algorithm in the model that fused potential associations. The experimental validation of the proposed algorithm proved its superiority over the available Cosine, Pearson, and Jaccard similarity algorithms. Satisfactory results in the comparative leave-one-out cross-validation test (with AUC = 0.96) confirmed its excellent predictive performance. Finally, the proposed model’s reliability was confirmed by performing predictions using a new dataset, yielding AUC = 0.92.

To address the problem that the traditional correlation metric defaults the 0 terms in the adjacency matrix of lncRNA-disease to irrelevant, ignoring the fact that it is only not validated now but maybe validated as relevant in the future, we propose a correlation calculation method that incorporates potential correlation properties, which is verified by comparative experiments to have better performance than the traditional method in the model; meanwhile, with the idea of nearest neighbor, we design the matrix completion model (DMWNN) to reassign values to the 0-terms in the adjacency matrix. The correlation is used instead of the traditional Euclidean distance to screen more valuable neighbors; combined with the linear decay strategy of distance weights, the interference of low correlation data is reduced, and thus the accuracy of reassignment is improved. The AUC value reached 0.9480 in the five-fold cross-validation experiment and 0.9603 in the leave-one-out cross-validation experiment, and the experimental results showed that the DMWNN model can effectively explore the potential association between lncRNA and disease and has strong predictive performance.

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is an infectious viral disease caused by epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) and EHDV frequently circulates in wild and domestic ruminants. Sporadic outbreaks of EHD have caused thousands of deaths and stillbirths on cattle farms. However, not much is known about the circulating status of EHDV in Guangdong, southern China. To estimate the seroprevalence of EHDV in Guangdong province, 2886 cattle serum samples were collected from 2013 to 2017 and tested for antibodies against EHDV using a competitive ELISA. The overall seroprevalence of EHDV reached 57.87% and was highest in autumn (75.34%). A subset of positive samples were serotyped by a serum neutralization test, showing that EHDV serotypes 1 and 5–8 were circulating in Guangdong. In addition, EHDV prevalence always peaked in autumn, while eastern Guangdong had the highest EHDV seropositivity over the five-year period, displaying apparent temporal–spatial distribution of EHDV prevalence. A binary logistic model analysis indicated a significant association between cattle with BTV infections and seroprevalence of EHDV (OR = 1.70, p < 0.001). The co-infection of different serotypes of EHDV and BTV raises a high risk of potential genomic reassortment and is likely to pose a significant threat to cattle, thus urging more surveillance to monitor their circulating dynamics in China.

The myodural bridge (MDB) is a dense connective tissue structure between the suboccipital musculature and the spinal dura mater (SDM). However, few reports on the development and maturation of the human MDB. 30 head and neck specimens from human fetuses (F) from 12–40 weeks (W) were made into histological sections. The F12W sections evidenced that the SDM dominated by fibroblasts, attached to the posterior atlantoaxial membrane (PAAM) which completely sealed the atlantoaxial space. In the F13W stage, myofibrils of the suboccipital muscle fibers increased significantly in number. At the F14W stage, a gap was observed at the caudal end of the PAAM. Numerous myodural bridge-like structures were observed blending into the SDM through the gap. At the F15W stage, the MDB fibers originated between the posterior arch of atlas (C1) and the obliquus capitis inferior muscle, and extended forward and downward into the spinal canal through the atlantoaxial gap. Starting at the F21W stage, the MDB fibers were observed to pass through the atlantoaxial interspace and radially attach to the SDM. The present study adds to the knowledge base of developmental morphology research of the human embryonic MDB and provides a developmental morphological basis for its potential functionality.

Canine hookworm disease is a global zoonotic parasitic disease caused by a variety of nematodes in families Ancylostomatidae, including Ancylostoma spp., Necator spp., and Uncinaria spp., in the small intestine (mainly the duodenum) of dogs. The disease is widely distributed in China. The purpose of this study is to systematically diagnose and treat canine hookworm disease through the case of miniaturization Schnauzer dog feed infected with A. ceylanicum, so as to provide experimental basis for subsequent prevention and control of canine hookworm disease.In the current study, we isolated hookworm eggs from a diseased miniature schnauzer, then the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 gene sequence from genomic DNA extracted from hookworms. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 gene sequence sequences was inferred using MEGA-X. After phylogenetic analysis, etiologic and symptomatic therapies were used to treat the canine hookworm disease.The sequencing results showed that the length of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 gene sequence was approximately 960 bp, and ITS1 and ITS2 were extracted to analyze similarity with other hookworms to build a phylogenetic tree. After phylogenetic analysis, the results showed that the diseased miniature schnauzer was infected by A. ceylanicum. Using etiologic and symptomatic therapies, the sick dog with an A. ceylanicum infection was also treated for 5 days.To our knowledge, this is the first report of diagnosis and treatment for canine hookworm disease in Guangzhou city. In addition, with the improvement of economic level, the scale of pet dog breeding is also increasing. The diagnostic methods and treatment schemes adopted in this report will help to standardize the prevention and control of canine hookworm disease.

Glioma is the most common and fatal primary brain tumor in humans. Myosin binding protein H (MYBPH), which was first identified as an important myofibrillar constituent of vertebrate skeletal and cardiac muscles, reduces cell motility and metastasis. However, its role in gliomas remains unclear. We evaluated the expression of MYBPH in glioma using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/) and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (https://www.cgga.org.cn/). The results showed that MYBPH was highly expressed in glioma tissues. Moreover, MYBPH expression was significantly associated with high tumor aggressiveness and poor outcomes in glioma patients. Mechanistically, the results suggested that MYBPH might promote tumor progression by improving tumor invasion and migration. Our results establish MYBPH as an important prognostic biomarker that could be considered a potential epigenetic and immunotherapeutic target for treatment. We showed that MYBPH is a novel biomarker that is variably expressed in glioblastoma (GBM). The association of high MYBPH expression with poor prognosis in newly diagnosed GBM patients and increased expression in recurrent GBM is indicative of its role in tumor aggressiveness.

To study the spatiotemporal variations in fine particulate matter (PM

The aim of this study was to fully understand the pollution characteristics and sources of PM

Developed herein is a new methodology for a hybrid of two pharmacophoric oxindole and isoxazole motifs to construct isoxazole-fused 3,3′-disubstituted oxindole scaffolds via an efficient 1,6-additi...

A diversity-oriented molecular hybridization strategy has been utilized for the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted 1-indanol-fused 3-oxindoles through a regioselective domino Michael/Aldol reaction of 3-ylideneoxindoles 1 with malononitrile or cyanacetate ethyle 2. Products bearing consecutive stereocenters consist of an oxindole moiety and an indanol core, were smoothly obtained in high yields (up to 92% yield) with good diastereoselectivity (up to 20:1). This protocol also represents the first construction of indanol-fused 3-oxindole scaffolds, thus leading to new knowledge in the fields of both molecular complexity and diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) and the lead compound discovery. It is also worth mentioning that the reaction was completely regioselective and the competitive regioisomeric products 4 or 5 were not obtained in any case.

Ionic wind, an induced phenomenon during corona discharge, possessing the features of silent operation and no moving parts, has a wide range of applications. Ionic wind generation is accompanied by complex physical processes, involving gas ionization, ion recombination, flow, and various chemical reactions, as well as mutual couplings between some of them. Therefore, understanding the corona discharge process and ionic wind generation is crucial for researchers and engineers to better utilize this phenomenon in practical applications. In this review, the principles of corona discharge and its induced ionic wind are presented. Subsequently, ionic wind generators are discussed according to their applications, and the corresponding advances based on experimental studies and numerical simulations are also reviewed. Moreover, the challenges of transitioning the ionic wind technology from laboratory studies to practical applications are discussed. These challenges include the excessively high onset voltage of the corona, ozone emission, and influence of environmental conditions. Furthermore, the mechanisms of these barriers and several effective approaches for mitigating them are provided. Finally, some future research prospects and the conclusions are presented.

The location of perianal abscesses and the course of the fistula follow certain patterns, especially in the relationship between external and internal openings. However, it is still not clear how the contents of the ischioanal fossa, especially the fibrous network of fat tissue, affect the route for such diseases. Ten male adult cadavers were selected for the study. Seven horizontal transverse section planes from 1 cm above the pubic symphysis to the inferior border of the lesser trochanter of the femur were recorded after P45 sheet plastination. We observed characteristics of fiber distribution in the ischioanal fossa and its relationship with surrounding structures in every plane. There was a dense strip-type fiber connecting with junction fascia between the obturator internus and gluteus maximus muscles. Close to the levator ani, obturator internus, and gluteus maximus, the fibers were very dense and continuous with the fascia on the surfaces of these three muscles. The function of the fibrous network was considered to be not only the support of fat tissue in the fossa but also cushioning during physiological actions such as defecation. We hope that these morphological results could help to elucidate the passage of fistulae and the locations susceptible to perianal abscesses. Clin. Anat. 30:1029-1033, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The aim of this study is to explore the inconsistencies between right liver volume as measured by imaging and the actual anatomical appearance of the right lobe. Five healthy donated livers were studied. The liver slices were obtained with hepatic segments multicolor-infused through the portal vein. In the slices, the lobes were divided by two methods: radiological landmarks and real anatomical boundaries. The areas of the right anterior lobe (RAL) and right posterior lobe (RPL) on each slice were measured using Photoshop CS5 and AutoCAD, and the volumes of the two lobes were calculated. There was no statistically significant difference between the volumes of the RAL or RPL as measured by the radiological landmarks (RL) and anatomical boundaries (AB) methods. However, the curves of the square error value of the RAL and RPL measured using CT showed that the three lowest points were at the cranial, intermediate, and caudal levels. The U- or V-shaped curves of the square error rate of the RAL and RPL revealed that the lowest value is at the intermediate level and the highest at the cranial and caudal levels. On CT images, less accurate landmarks were used to divide the RAL and RPL at the cranial and caudal layers. The measured volumes of hepatic segments VIII and VI would be less than their true values, and the measured volumes of hepatic segments VII and V would be greater than their true values, according to radiological landmarks. Clin. Anat., 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

As an important member of the interleukin (IL)-1 family, IL‑33 plays a significant role in tumor progression. To explore this, we previously analyzed the association between IL‑33 expression and the prognosis of patients with glioma. However, the function of the IL‑33/ST2 axis in glioma remained unclear. In the present study, immunofluorescent staining results revealed that the expression levels of IL‑33 and ST2 receptor in glioma tissues were higher than those in normal brain tissues. Invasion and migration assays demonstrated that IL‑33 significantly increased glioma cell invasion and migration in vitro. Furthermore, knockdown of ST2 by siRNA attenuated the IL‑33-induced increase in invasion and migration. In addition, ELISA results revealed that IL‑33 upregulated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)2 and MMP9. Western blot analysis results indicated that IL‑33 stimulation increased the phosphorylation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Moreover, silencing of the NF-κB pathway by BAY 11‑7082 resulted in the inhibition of IL‑33-induced invasion and migration, as well as the downregulation of MMP2 and MMP9 production. These findings indicate that IL‑33 may be involved in the process of glioma cell invasion and migration by upregulating MMP2 and MMP9 via the ST2-NF-κB signaling pathway. Thus, IL‑33 may be a novel therapeutic target for glioma.

Tenascin-C (TNC), a very large multimeric glycoprotein, is overexpressed in human glioblastomas, leading to a highly motile and invasive phenotype of glioma cells. However, the regulation of TNC expression in glioma has remained unclear until now. Our data suggest that interleukin-33 (IL-33) may promote the accumulation of TNC protein by autocrine or paracrine modes of action in glioma. In the present study, the expression levels of TNC, IL-33, and ST2 were measured in glioma tissue specimens, and the impact of altered IL-33 expression on TNC was investigated in vitro and in vivo. In contrast with control treatment, IL-33 treatment increased TNC expression, and knockdown of IL-33 attenuated TNC expression in glioma cells. Furthermore, IL-33 induced the activation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and increased the expression of TNC in U251 cells. In addition, blockage of the IL-33-ST2-NFκB pathway resulted in downregulation of TNC production. IL-33 promoted glioma cell invasion by stimulating the secretion of TNC. Similarly, knockdown of TNC inhibited the invasiveness of glioma cells. These findings provide a novel perspective on the role of the IL-33/NF-κB/TNC signalling pathway in supporting cancer progression. Thus, targeting the IL-33/NF-κB/TNC signalling pathway may be a useful therapeutic approach in glioma.

The connective tissue between suboccipital muscles and the cervical spinal dura mater (SDM) is known as the myodural bridge (MDB). However, the adjacent relationship of the different connective tissue fibers that form the MDB remains unclear. This information will be highly useful in exploring the function of the MDB. The adjacent relationship of different connective tissue fibers of MDB was demonstrated based upon three-dimensional visualization model, P45 plastinated slices and histological sections of human MDB. We found that the MDB originating from the rectus capitis posterior minor muscle (RCPmi), rectus capitis posterior major muscle (RCPma) and obliquus capitis inferior muscle (OCI) in the suboccipital region coexists. Part of the MDB fibers originate from the ventral aspect of the RCPmi and, together with that from the cranial segment of the RCPma, pass through the posterior atlanto-occipital interspace (PAOiS) and enter into the posterior aspect of the upper cervical SDM. Also, part of the MDB fibers originate from the dorsal aspect of the RCPmi, the ventral aspect of the caudal segment of the RCPma, and the ventral aspect of the medial segment of the OCI, enter the central part of the posterior atlanto-axial interspace (PAAiS) and fuse with the vertebral dura ligament (VDL), which connects with the cervical SDM. Our findings prove that the MDB exists as a complex structure which we termed the ‘myodural bridge complex’ (MDBC). In the process of head movement, tensile forces could be transferred possibly and effectively by means of the MDBC. The concept of MDBC will be beneficial in the overall exploration of the function of the MDB.

The relationship between structure and upconversion performance of four anthracene-based acceptors, named as anthracene (An), 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA), 9,10-di(naphthalen-1-yl)anthracene (DNACl) and 9,10-di(naphthalen-1-yl)anthracene-2-carbonitrile (DNACN), doped with Pd(II)tetraphenylporphyrin (PdTPP) was studied. Experimental measurements associated with theoretical calculations reveal that the influences of fluorescence quantum yield, Sterm-Volmer constant and energy level on the upconverted quantum yields. The upconverted fluorescence of PdTPP/DPA and PdTPP/DNACl in oil-in-water (o/w) microemulsion was investigated by temperature tuning. The efficiency of upconverted microemulsion increases with the increasing temperature. Furthermore, the upconverted o/w microemulsion has a good shielding ability to oxygen, which is critically important for application. It has been demonstrated to apply the upconverted microemulsion in photodegradation. Under the irradiation of green-to-blue upconverted microemulsion in air, the photodegradation efficiency of Rhodamine B (RhB) catalyzed by Zn0.3Cd0.7S is up to 80 %. The significance in this study suggests that the upconverted microemusion has a good stability against molecular oxygen and can drive the photodegradation for water purification and environmental remediation by sun energy in air.

The present study presents an overview of CO2 heat pump water heater for residential use in Japan. The contents include the general background, current market, and the technology evolvement of the transcritical CO2 system, especially on the key components like compressor and gas cooler. Some cutting edge technology associated with the high efficient compressors and its integration with expander, such as swing compressor, sub-compressor, two-stage compressor, scroll expander, and dual-sided scroll-type expander are elaborated in this review. Some ingenious tube designs to promote the performance of gas cooler are also studied. In practice, the dominant thermal resistance may occur in the CO2 side or water side, thereby implementing twisted tube or dimple tubes may be quite effective. The placement of enhancement on the water side is especially effective when the operational pressure is close to the critical pressure whereas heat transfer enhancement is more helpful if the operational pressure is comparatively high. For augmentation on the CO2 side, it would be more beneficial to place enhancement a distance away from the pseudo-critical region.

The study of somatotypes has important significance for medical and physical anthropology as well as sports science. The aim of this study was to understand the somatotype components of the Han population in Xi’an and compare the somatotypes of the Han and five other nationalities in China. The study sample consisted of 429 people of Han nationality (207 males, 222 females) from Xi’an, China, aged ≥20 years old. The Heath-Carter anthropometric method was employed. We evaluated the differences in age and sex by one-way ANOVA and t test. A comparison of somatotypes between the Han and other nationalities was made using the U test. The results showed that the male and female samples all could be classified as having a mesomorphic endomorph profile. The difference in endomorphy was strongest between sexes in all age groups (P

Welding sequence is the important influence factor of the temperature field and residual stress and deformation in welding structure, At present, determining the welding sequence is usually based on experience and test method. For complex structure it is very difficult to get the optimum welding sequence. This study is aiming to settle the problem of solving the optimum welding sequence of complex box welding structure. In our study, we take the welding deformation as objective function, and then, associate glowworm swarm optimization algorithm with thermal-mechanical coupling and nonlinear thermal elastoplastic finite element model to optimize numerical simulation, eventually the optimum welding sequence is determined. Optimization results demonstrate that the optimum welding sequence obtained by our method has small welding deformation and little change rate. At the same time, our method is faster, more accurate, more effective than the traditional experience or test method.

According to the characteristics of piggery, such as complex environment, numerous control objects, complex wiring, a piggery environment control system based on wireless sensor networks was designed. This system consisted of the wireless network composed of various devices and sensors in piggery, the control center with ARM-LINUX and the remote control center. The energy of sensor nodes was offered by batteries in wireless sensor networks so that the power source was limited. In order to strengthen the node energy management, the LEACH algorithm was combined with AODV routing protocol, and a new optimization algorithm called LEACH-A was proposed in this paper. The wireless sensor networks execution process was divided into two phases, including cluster building and data transmission. In the two phases, the node residual energy was calculated by a weighted function and the cluster head role was changed by the size of remaining energy. NS-2 simulation results show that the proposed algorithm prolonged the lifetime of the nodes and the networks, and realized the energy optimization management.

In view of the fixed testing point and complex wiring in conventional piggery environment control, a new system based on wireless sensor network was designed. This system consisted of the control center with ARM-Linux, executing mechanism nodes and wireless sensor network containing the flexible sensor nodes which could be arbitrarily placed in piggery. In order to make reasonable use of the energy of Zigbee network and prolong the survival time, a improved zigbee tree routing algorithm was proposed. First of all, by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the Cluster-tree and AODVjr algorithm in the Zigbee protocol, the neighbor table was introduced into the improved algorithm. Secondly, the scope of the destination node was confirmed to control the radio range of the RREQ and prevented invalid RREQ flooding. Simulation results show that the improved algorithm optimized the overall energy consumption effectively, prolonged the time of the critical nodes, reduced the number of death nodes, balanced the network load and improved the overall performance of the network.

The location of perianal abscesses and the course of the fistula follow certain patterns, especially in the relationship between external and internal openings. However, it is still not clear how the contents of the ischioanal fossa, especially the fibrous network of fat tissue, affect the route for such diseases. Ten male adult cadavers were selected for the study. Seven horizontal transverse section planes from 1 cm above the pubic symphysis to the inferior border of the lesser trochanter of the femur were recorded after P45 sheet plastination. We observed characteristics of fiber distribution in the ischioanal fossa and its relationship with surrounding structures in every plane. There was a dense strip-type fiber connecting with junction fascia between the obturator internus and gluteus maximus muscles. Close to the levator ani, obturator internus, and gluteus maximus, the fibers were very dense and continuous with the fascia on the surfaces of these three muscles. The function of the fibrous network was considered to be not only the support of fat tissue in the fossa but also cushioning during physiological actions such as defecation. We hope that these morphological results could help to elucidate the passage of fistulae and the locations susceptible to perianal abscesses. Clin. Anat. 30:1029-1033, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The prognostic role of inflammation index like neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains controversial. We conduct a meta-analysis to determine the predictable value of NLR in the clinical outcome of CRC patients. The analysis was carried out based on the data from 16 studies (19 cohorts) to evaluate the association between NLR and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with CRC. In addition, the relationship between NLR and clinicopathological parameters was assessed. Hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used as the effect size estimate. Our analysis results indicated that elevated pretreatment NLR predicted poorer OS (HR: 1.813, 95% CI: 1.499–2.193) and PFS (HR: 2.102, 95% CI: 1.554–2.843) in patients with CRC. Increased NLR is also significantly associated with the poorer differentiation of the tumor (OR: 1.574, 95% CI: 1.226–2.022) and higher carcino-embryonie antigen (CEA) level (OR: 1.493, 95% CI: 1.308–1.705). By these results, we conclude that NLR gains a prognostic value for patients with CRC. NLR should be monitored in CRC patients for rational stratification of the patients and adjusting the treatment strategy.

The objective of this work was to discuss a calculation method of dye concentration in mixed dye bath, to develop an optical fibre sensing system for in-situ monitoring of dye concentrations in a dye bath and control the rate of exhaustion to ensure that the dyeing process yields the desired product. A designed optical fibre sensing system was proved to be practicable to measure the single dye concentration accurately, it is important to chance right calculation method in measuring mixed dye bath concentration. The experiment prepared known concentration mixture with reactive red 2G and yellow 4G. Based on measured absorption spectra, dyes concentrations were calculated by derivative ratio method. The calculated results were compared with the prepared concentrations. The accuracy was discussed. The results show that calculated dyes concentration by derivative ratio method well matched the prepared value at the certain concentration range.

Objective We aimed to investigate the morphological changes and potential correlation between chronic headaches and the rectus capitis posterior minor muscle (RCPmi). Methods Comparison of RCPmi between patients with chronic headaches and healthy adult volunteers were collected using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Mimics software. Results Among the 235 MRI images analyzed, the data between the two groups were considered statistically significant. The number of males was larger than that of females ( p Conclusions Chronic headaches were correlated with the RCPmi. Patients with chronic headaches suffered from more obvious hypertrophy than that of the control group. Additionally, it was supposed that RCPmi hypertrophy may be one pathogenesis of the chronic headaches.

To compare the areas of human liver horizontal sections with computed tomography (CT) images and to evaluate whether the subsegments determined by CT are consistent with the actual anatomy. Six human cadaver livers were made into horizontal slices with multislice spiral CT three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction was used during infusion process. Each liver segment was displayed using different color, and 3D images of the portal and hepatic vein were reconstructed. Each segmental area was measured on CT-reconstructed images, which were compared with the actual area on the sections of the same liver. The measurements were performed at four key levels namely: (1) the three hepatic veins, (2) the left, and (3) the right branch of portal vein (PV), and (4) caudal to the bifurcation of the PV. By dividing the sum of these areas by the total area of the liver, the authors got the percentage of the incorrectly determined subsegmental areas. In addition to these percentage values, the maximum distances of the radiologically determined intersegmental boundaries from the true anatomic boundaries were measured. On the four key levels, an average of 28.64 ± 10.26% of the hepatic area of CT images was attributed to an incorrect segment. The mean-maximum error between artificial segments on images and actual anatomical segments was 3.81 ± 1.37 cm. The correlation between radiological segmenting method and actual anatomy was poor. The hepatic segments being divided strictly according to the branching point of the PV could be more informative during liver segmental resection. Clin. Anat. 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Based on measured ventilation condition in the built aerobic composting plant of large sludge treatment engineering,using the methord of CFD, four kinds of scheme for the new aerobic composting plant were analysed,which contain two types of ventilation(natural air supply mechanical exhaust and mechanical air mechanical ventilation)and two kinds of supply air rates (4x105m3/h and 8x105m3/h). Studies have shown that the methord of mechanical air supply and exhaust is better than the original natural air mechanical exhaust in this plant; The methord of mechanical air supply and exhaust is recommended to reduce ammonia content for personal breathing zone and ventilation energy consumption.

A new hexagonal actuator arrangement continuous face-sheet MEMS deformable mirror is proposed, a mirror array with 19 elements is fabricated by a surface micromachining process. This design has a good fitting capability and a fast dynamic response. The fabricated sample is tested by an optical profiler. Simulation and test results indicate that it has a small aperture size, a high fill factor, a fast response time and a high working bandwidth. This new device provides a possibility of manufacturing a large-actuator-count DM for high speed wavefront control.

We present an algorithm to compute Minkowski sum of general ployhedra, the algorithm removes unnecessary information of computing pairwise Minkowski sum by redundancy analysis and adopt heuristic sorting order to improve computing efficiency of union process, contrast experiments show the algorithm is efficient and suitable for CAD and CAM.

With the development of hepatic surgery and radiology, a more accurate understanding of intrahepatic vessels and hepatic segments is necessary. Previously, research in these fields was primarily by means of dissecting livers, preparing corrosion cast specimens, reconstructing three-dimensional MSCT images of intrahepatic vessels, and so on. The aim of this study was to search for a new specimen preparing method, which could demonstrate intrahepatic vessels and the relationships between internal vessels and external structures of liver simultaneously. Rabbit livers were prepared with three different techniques in this study: (a) corrosion-cast technique; (b) transparency technique; and (c) combination technique of cast and transparency. The results showed that the combination of casting and transparent liver specimens in group C could demonstrate both the intrahepatic vessels and the external structures clearly. The relationships between the internal vessels and external structures could also be observed clearly. In conclusion, the combination method for preparing casting and transparent liver specimen created a new approach for the research of intrahepatic vessels, especially for applied basic research of hepatic segments.

Open surgery with common bile duct (CBD) exploration and T tube drainage are still traditionally performed in a large amount of selected patients with cholelithiasis and choledocholithiasis. Confirmation of CBD clearance via T tube cholangiography after surgery is a routine procedure before T tube removal. The present study aims at investigating potential risk factors associated with residual stones in CBD via T tube cholangiography. Patients undergoing open CBD exploration and T tube drainage for choledocholithiasis in the hospital were enrolled retrospectively from January 2011 to December 2013. The clinical data were reviewed and analyzed based on computer database. Patients undergoing laparoscopic CBD exploration were excluded. Patients with CBD exploration and primary choledochotomy or choledochojejunostomy were also excluded from the study. T tube cholangiography was regularly performed 4 to 8 weeks postoperatively. Two hundred seventy-five patients undergoing open CBD exploration and T tube drainage were enrolled in the study. Thirty-five patients (12.7%) were found to have gallbladder stones but without bile duct stones intraoperatively (Group A). One hundred sixty-five (Group B) and 77 patients (Group C) were diagnosed with choledocholithiasis and hepato-choledocholithiasis in operation, respectively. Disease of hepato-choledocholithiasis, size of the previous stones, and CBD exploration without intraoperative choledochoscopy were identified as risk factors associated with residue stones via T tube cholangiography (P

Moire patterns on HOPG were studied with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The results reveal that the observed Moire patterns originate from the defects locating several layers below the surface, which presents the first experimental evidence supporting the prediction that in HOPG the nanoscale electronic waves can propagate through several layers without obvious decay.

The prognostic role of inflammation index like neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains controversial. We conduct a meta-analysis to determine the predictable value of NLR in the clinical outcome of CRC patients. The analysis was carried out based on the data from 16 studies (19 cohorts) to evaluate the association between NLR and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with CRC. In addition, the relationship between NLR and clinicopathological parameters was assessed. Hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used as the effect size estimate. Our analysis results indicated that elevated pretreatment NLR predicted poorer OS (HR: 1.813, 95% CI: 1.499-2.193) and PFS (HR: 2.102, 95% CI: 1.554-2.843) in patients with CRC. Increased NLR is also significantly associated with the poorer differentiation of the tumor (OR: 1.574, 95% CI: 1.226-2.022) and higher carcino-embryonie antigen (CEA) level (OR: 1.493, 95% CI: 1.308-1.705). By these results, we conclude that NLR gains a prognostic value for patients with CRC. NLR should be monitored in CRC patients for rational stratification of the patients and adjusting the treatment strategy.

The study sample consisting of 429 people (207 males, 222 females) of Han nationality in Shaanxi, China. Five types of tongue movements were investigated, including tongue rolling, tongue folding, tongue twisting, pointed tongue and clover-leaf tongue. The results revealed that the frequencies of tongue rolling, tongue folding, tongue twisting, pointed tongue and clover-leaf tongue were 63.6, 14.0, 12.6, 54.8 and 0 %, respectively. There were no significant gender differences except with pointed tongue. Compared with other nationalities, tongue rolling, tongue folding, and pointed tongue of Han in Shaanxi had an average frequency. Tongue twisting and clover-leaf tongue had low frequencies. There were significant differences in frequency of clover-leaf tongue between Han and another seven nationalities of China (P < 0.01). Furthermore, only three pairs of trait correlations were exhibited among ten pairs of types of tongue movement combination traits when analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The data indicated that the correlations of tongue movement were between tongue rolling and tongue folding, between pointed tongue and tongue rolling, and also between tongue folding and pointed tongue, respectively. Additionally, there were significant differences in frequency of tongue movements with age. The possible mechanism of variations of tongue movements with aging may involve the degradation of tongue function, and differential gene activation and modulation, or protein translation.

With the development of hepatic surgery and radiology, an increasing amount of researchers have reported discrepancies between the real distribution of the hepatic portal vein branches and Couinaud's segmentation, especially for further division of the right medial division. The present study investigated 25 cadaveric liver dissections and 30 three-dimensional reconstruction images of intrahepatic vessels. The ramifications, course, distribution and quantity of the portal branches were analyzed. An oblique fissure that had few vessels was found among third-order branches of the hepatic portal vein of the right medial division. The right medial division could be redivided into the ventral subsegment and dorsal subsegment by this oblique fissure. A hepatic vein coursed in the oblique fissure between the ventral subsegment and dorsal subsegment. The hepatic vein could serve as an anatomical landmark of the inter-subsegmental plane. This new method of identifying further division of the right medial division is a novel concept providing further information on conventional segmental anatomy. Clin. Anat. 25:489–495, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Aiming at the feature of the cavity microscopic image of the cross-section of Fiberboard, a new algorithm is proposed which can detect the image effectively and accurately. This algorithm used Otsu algorithm to segment the cavity from the microscopic image, then refined the cavity edge by using the GAP statistic model which was based on the difference in distribution function of grey-level. The experimental results show that the algorithm improves the edge detection effect of cavity microscopic image with a good anti-noise performance, and achieves better detection effect.

To compare the areas of human liver horizontal sections with computed tomography (CT) images and to evaluate whether the subsegments determined by CT are consistent with the actual anatomy. Six human cadaver livers were made into horizontal slices with multislice spiral CT three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction was used during infusion process. Each liver segment was displayed using different color, and 3D images of the portal and hepatic vein were reconstructed. Each segmental area was measured on CT-reconstructed images, which were compared with the actual area on the sections of the same liver. The measurements were performed at four key levels namely: (1) the three hepatic veins, (2) the left, and (3) the right branch of portal vein (PV), and (4) caudal to the bifurcation of the PV. By dividing the sum of these areas by the total area of the liver, the authors got the percentage of the incorrectly determined subsegmental areas. In addition to these percentage values, the maximum distances of the radiologically determined intersegmental boundaries from the true anatomic boundaries were measured. On the four key levels, an average of 28.64 ± 10.26% of the hepatic area of CT images was attributed to an incorrect segment. The mean-maximum error between artificial segments on images and actual anatomical segments was 3.81 ± 1.37 cm. The correlation between radiological segmenting method and actual anatomy was poor. The hepatic segments being divided strictly according to the branching point of the PV could be more informative during liver segmental resection.

Until now there has been no definitive anatomical study of the boundary between hepatic subsegments IVa and IVb. In this study, we used a multicolor segmental corrosion cast technique and a multicolor segmental technique on plastinated slices, in combination with helical CT three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction on 15 donated fresh isolated human liver specimens. The corrosion cast technique was carried out on eight of these specimens, and the remaining seven livers were used to make horizontal plastinated slices. Examination of these specimens and observation of 20 additional liver corrosion cast specimens showed that all boundaries between hepatic segments were complex, undulating scissures rather than simple, flat planes. We also found that there was an obvious boundary between subsegments IVa and IVb, such that subsegment IVa laid posterosuperior to subsegment IVb. A tributary of a hepatic vein passed through the boundary between subsegments IVa and IVb, and could serve as an anatomical landmark of this boundary. Clin. Anat. 21:439–446, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

To observe the channel state in patients with acute sport injury of external malleolus joint from the cutaneous electrical conductance quantity (ECQ) of Jing (Well)-points, Yuan (Source)-points and Luo (Collateral)-points of the twelve regular channels.Forty-five patients with acute sport injury of external malleolus joint were chosen to be used as the observation group, and 30 healthy people as the control group. The ECQ of the cutaneous tissue of Jing-points, Yuan-points and Luo-points of the twelve regular channels was detected by using HB-DET Acupoint Diagnosis-Therapeutic Apparatus under room temperature. If the difference of ECQ values between the bilateral limbs exceeded 50%, it was considered to be imbalance.In observation group, the imbalance state reflected from ECQ of Jing-points mainly involved Trienergizer Channel of Hand-Shaoyang and the Kidney Channel of Foot-Shaoyin, with the imbalance rate being 60.0% (27/45) and 55.6% (25/45) respectively which were significantly higher than those [0 and 3.3% (1/30)] of control group (P0.05). The ECQ of the Yuan-points of the 12 regular channels indicated that the imbalance state mainly involved the Bladder Channel (32/45, 71.1%), Gallbladder Channel (30/45, 66.7%). Liver Channel (28/45, 62.2%), Kidney Channel (27/45, 60.0%), Stomach Channel (25/45, 55.6%) and Pericardium Channel (21/45, 46.7%) which were significantly higher than those [1/30 (3.3%), 0, 1/30 (3.3%), 0, 0, and 0] of control group in the number of imbalanced channels (P0.05). The ECQ of the 12 Luo-points showed that the imbalanced channels were mainly Gallbladder Channel (29/45, 64.4%) and Bladder Channel (29/45, 64.4%) which were significantly higher than those [0, and 1/30 (3.3%)] of control group in the number (P0.05). Of the 540 Jing-points, 540 Yuan-points and 540 Luo-points, 93 (17.2%), 181 (33.5%) and 96 (17.8%) appeared imbalance, and the imbalance rate of Yuan-points was apparently higher than those of Jing-points and Luo-points (P0.05).Acute sport injury of external malleolus joint may lead to imbalance of channels passing through the injured areas, and also involves the channel (Pericardium Channel) dominated by the heart and the 12 Yuan-points.

To probe into therapeutic effects of Ziwuliuzhu combined selection of the source point and the collateral point on athletic injuries and the state of channels.Ninety cases meeting diagnostic criteria were randomly divided into a group of Ziwuliuzhu combined selection of the source point and the collateral point (group A), a group of routine selection of acupoint (group B) and a group of external application of medicine (group C), 30 cases in each group. The electric conduction amount on source points of 12 channels were determined before and after treatment with a point diagnosis and treatment instrument. Changes of the state of channels and clinical therapeutic effects in the 3 groups were investigated after treatment.The therapeutic effect in the group A was better than those in the other two groups (P0.05).Ziwuliuzhu combined selection of the source point and the collateral point has good effect on pain and other clinical symptoms of athletic injuries, and makes channels of imbalance tend to balance or recover balance.

The title compound, C(13)H(13)N(5)O, crystallizes with two mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. The crystal structure is stabilized by intra-molecular N-H⋯N and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The dihedral angles between the pyrazine ring and the 4-aminolphenyl ring are 2.5 (1) and 6.5 (1)° in the two molecules.