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BackgroundThe pathogenesis of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is complex and multifactorial, with growing evidence indicating the involvement of hematologic disorders. Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) has recently been associated with increased risks of both hematologic malignancies and cardiovascular diseases. The CHIP in patients with CTEPH and its clinical relevance remain undetermined.MethodsWe performed a step-wise calling method on the next-generation sequencing data from 499 CTEPH patients referred to three centers between October 2006 and December 2021 to identify CHIP mutations. We associated CHIP with all-cause mortality in patients with CTEPH. To provide potential mechanistic insights, the associations between CHIP and inflammation characteristics reflected by circulating cytokines and IgG galactosylation, a hallmark of inflammatory state in diseases were also determined.ResultsTotal 51 (10.2%) patients with CTEPH carried at least one CHIP mutation at a variant allele frequency of ≥ 2%, and the most common mutations were amongDNMT3A,RUN1andSTAG2. During a mean follow-up time of 55 months, deaths occurred in 21 patients (42.9%) in the CHIP group and 105 patients (24.3%) in the non-CHIP group, contributing to the 5-year survival rate of 65.3% in the CHIP group and 81.9% in the non-CHIP group (P< 0.001 for log-rank test). The association of CHIP with mortality remained robust in the fully adjusted model (HR: 3.447; 95% CI: 1.747 – 6.803;P< 0.001). Besides, patients in the CHIP group showed higher circulating IL-1beta and IL-6 and lower IL-4 and IgG galactosylation compared with the non-CHIP group.ConclusionsCHIP is enriched in CTEPH patients and is associated with a worse prognosis in CTEPH. Mechanically, patients in the CHIP group showed a more severe inflammatory state.Clinical PerspectiveWhat is new?Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) mutations are enriched in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) patients, with most common mutated genes beingDNMT3A,RUN1andSTAG2.CHIP is associated with worse clinical outcomes in CTEPH.CHIP is associated with more severe inflammation state mediated by myeloid as well as lymphoid cells in patients with CTEPH.What are the clinical implications?CHIP might be a risk factor for CTEPH, suggesting a relationship between CTEPH and hematopoietic disorders.CHIP represented an additional disease component in CTEPH that independently impacts prognosis.CHIP might be a potential target for personalized medicine and an indicator of benefit from anti-inflammatory therapies for CTEPH patients.

Background Subendocardial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) detected with cardiac MRI in myocarditis represents a diagnostic dilemma, since it may resemble myocardial ischemia. Purpose To explore and compare the histopathologic characteristics and clinical features and outcomes in patients with myocarditis with and without subendocardial involvement at cardiac MRI. Materials and Methods This retrospective study evaluated 39 patients with myocarditis pathologically proven by means of either endomyocardial biopsy or explant pathologic findings between 2015 and 2020. Patients were divided into two groups according to cardiac MRI phenotype: 18 with subendocardial involvement (mean age ± standard deviation, 40 years ± 17; 10 women) and 21 with no subendocardial involvement (mean age, 35 years ± 11; six women). The median follow-up period was 784 days (interquartile range [IQR], 90-1123 days). The Student t test, Mann-Whitney U test, and univariable Cox regression were used for statistical analyses. Results In the 18 patients with subendocardial involvement, 12 (67%) had lymphocytic myocarditis and six (33%) had giant cell myocarditis. Patients with subendocardial involvement compared with those without subendocardial involvement had lower left ventricular ejection fraction (mean ± standard deviation, 27% ± 11 vs 41% ± 19; P = .004), larger LGE extent (median, 13% [IQR, 10%-22%] vs 5% [IQR, 2%-17%]; P < .001), higher rates of cardiac death or transplant (eight of 18 patients [44%] vs one of 21 patients [4.8%]; P = .006), higher probability of giant cell myocarditis (six of 18 [33%] vs one of 21 [4.8%]; P = .02), and more major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) (15 of 18 [83%] vs seven of 21 [33%]; P = .002). In a subgroup of patients with comparable LGE extent (median, 15% vs 16%; P = .40) and left ventricular ejection fraction (median, 27% vs 31%; P = .26), the prognostic difference in terms of MACE remained (15 of 17 patients [88%] vs five of 10 [50%]; P = .02). Conclusion Subendocardial involvement detected with cardiac MRI in myocarditis indicated more severe clinical features, including a higher frequency of severe lymphocytic myocarditis or giant cell myocarditis and worse prognosis. © RSNA, 2021 See also the editorial by de Roos in this issue.

Purpose The safety of an MRI simulation-guided boost after short-course preoperative radiotherapy (SCPRT) for unresectable rectal cancer is assessed with a planned interim analysis. Methods and materials Patients diagnosed with clinical stage T3-4 or regional lymph node-positive disease with positive mesorectal fascia or T4b disease evaluated by pelvic MRI were randomly assigned to the SCPRT-boost group (25 Gy in 5 fractions plus 4 Gy delivered to the gross tumor volume, followed by four cycles of chemotherapy) or preoperative chemoradiotherapy group (50 Gy in 25 fractions with concurrent chemotherapy). Then, patients received total mesorectal excision surgery after preoperative treatment. The primary endpoint was the R0 resection rate. The interim analysis was performed when 42 patients completed their assigned treatments. Results From October 2018 to November 2019, a total of 43 patients were enrolled, and 42 patients were included in the interim analysis. During preoperative therapy, grade 3 or above toxicities were observed in 10/21 (47.6%) patients in the experimental group, and 4/21 (19.0%) patients in the control group. A total of 17 (81.0%) and 13 (61.9%) patients in the experimental group and control group underwent surgery, respectively. Overall, 65.1% of the patients achieved R0 resection in the intention-to-treat analysis. Surgery-related adverse complications were observed in 2 patients (11.8%) in the experimental group and 1 patient (7.7%) in the control group. Conclusion Our results show that the toxicity of an MRI simulation-guided boost after SCPRT for unresectable rectal cancer is acceptable. Thus, this clinical trial will be continued as planned.

Tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex and dynamic evolving environment which facilitates tumor proliferation and progression. We aimed at investigating the characteristics of tumor microenvironment and its prognostic value in gliomas. Transcriptome data of 702 glioma samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas were included as training dataset, while 325 samples from Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database and 268 samples from GSE16011 database were used to validate. We found that the infiltration of stromal and immune cell varied in gliomas of different grades and pathological types, and was associated with poor prognosis. Based on the gene expression profile, we constructed a TME-related signature (TMERS), which was closely related to clinical features and genomic variation of gliomas. In TMERS-high group, specific gene mutations and increased copy number alternations were observed. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analysis showed that TMERS was an independent prognostic indicator. Then we developed a nomogram prognostic model to predict 1-year, 3-year and 5-year survival of patients. Functional analysis confirmed that TMERS could reflect the status of glioma microenvironment, and immunological analysis showed that macrophages were significantly enriched in the TMERS-high group. We established a novel TME-related signature for predicting prognosis and provided new insights into immunotherapy.

Background Several studies have shown that members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family play an important role in cancer immunoregulation, and trials targeting these molecules are already underway. Our study aimed to integrate and analyze the expression patterns and clinical significance of TNF family-related genes in gliomas. Methods A total of 1749 gliomas from 4 datasets were enrolled in our study, including the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset as the training cohort and the other three datasets (CGGA, GSE16011, and Rembrandt) as validation cohorts. Clinical information, RNA expression data, and genomic profile were collected for analysis. We screened the signature gene set by Cox proportional hazards modelling. We evaluated the prognostic value of the signature by Kaplan–Meier analysis and timeROC curve. Gene Ontology (GO) and Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) analysis were performed for functional annotation. CIBERSORT algorithm and inflammatory metagenes were used to reveal immune characteristics. Results In gliomas, the expression of most TNF family members was positively correlated. Univariate analysis showed that most TNF family members were related to the overall survival of patients. Then through the LASSO regression model, we developed a TNF family-based signature, which was related to clinical, molecular, and genetic characteristics of patients with glioma. Moreover, the signature was found to be an independent prognostic marker through survival curve analysis and Cox regression analysis. Furthermore, a nomogram prognostic model was constructed to predict individual survival rates at 1, 3 and 5 years. Functional annotation analysis revealed that the immune and inflammatory response pathways were enriched in the high-risk group. Immunological analysis showed the immunosuppressive status in the high-risk group. Conclusions We developed a TNF family-based signature to predict the prognosis of patients with glioma.

Background Percutaneous transluminal pulmonary angioplasty (PTPA) is a treatment modality for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, but whether it can be applied to patients with hypertensive pulmonary Takayasu's arteritis (PTA), another chronic obstructive pulmonary vascular disease, remains unclear. Purpose To investigate the potential efficacy and safety of PTPA for hypertensive PTA. Methods All consecutive patients with hypertensive PTA who completed PTPA in our center between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2019 were prospectively enrolled. Hemodynamics, exercise capacity and oxygen saturation were measured at baseline and at least 3 months after the last PTPA session. PTPA procedure related complications, restenosis and all-cause deaths during follow-up were recorded. Results A total of 50 patients were enrolled, with the median age of 41 (IQR, 30–49) years and female predominance (82.0%). After PTPA, significant improvements in hemodynamics including mean pulmonary artery pressure (from median 48 [39–60] to 37 [31–42] mm Hg, p Conclusion PTPA appears to be a promising therapeutic option for patients with hypertensive PTA. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): the National Key Research and Development Program of China Efficacy of PTPA

BackgroundSupraventricular tachycardia (SVT) occurs commonly and is strongly correlated with clinical deterioration in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and long-term outcome of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) in PH patients with SVT.Materials and MethodsConsecutive PH patients with SVT who were scheduled to undergo electrophysiological study and RFCA between September 2010 and July 2019 were included. The acute results and long-term success of RFCA were assessed after the procedure.ResultsIn total, 71 PH patients with 76 episodes of SVT were analyzed. Cavotricuspid isthmus-dependent atrial flutter (n = 33, 43.5%) was the most common SVT type, followed by atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (n = 16, 21.1%). Of the 71 patients, 60 (84.5%) underwent successful electrophysiological study and were subsequently treated by RFCA. Among them, acute sinus rhythm was restored in 54 (90.0%) patients, and procedure-related complications were observed in 4 (6.7%) patients. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that cavotricuspid isthmus-independent atrial flutter [odds ratio (OR) 25.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.45–180.98, p = 0.001] and wider pulmonary artery diameter (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03–1.38; p = 0.016) were associated with RFCA failure. During a median follow-up of 36 (range, 3–108) months, 7 patients with atrial flutter experienced recurrence, yielding a 78.3% 3-year success rate for RFCA treatment.ConclusionThe findings suggest that RFCA of SVT in PH patients is feasible and has a good long-term success rate. Cavotricuspid isthmus-independent atrial flutter and a wider PAD could increase the risk for ablation failure.

AimsThis study aimed to assess the clinical characteristics and long-term survival outcome in patients with Takayasu’s arteritis-associated pulmonary hypertension (TA-PH).Methods and resultsWe conducted a nationally representative cohort study of TA-PH using data from the National Rare Diseases Registry System of China. Patients with pulmonary artery involvement who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of Takayasu’s arteritis and pulmonary hypertension were included. The primary outcome was the time from diagnosis of TA-PH to the occurrence of all-cause death. Between January 2007 and January 2019, a total of 140 patients were included, with a mean age of 41.4 years at diagnosis, and a female predominance (81%). Patients with TA-PH had severely haemodynamic and functional impairments at diagnosis. Significant improvements have been found in N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and haemodynamic profiles in patients with TA-PH receiving drugs approved for pulmonary arterial hypertension. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates in TA-PH were 94.0%, 83.2%, and 77.2%, respectively. Predictors associated with an increased risk of all-cause death were syncope [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 5.38 (95% confidence interval 1.77–16.34), P = 0.003], NT-proBNP level [adjusted HR 1.04 (1.03–1.06), P ConclusionPatients with TA-PH were predominantly female and had severely compromised haemodynamics. More than 80% of patients in our cohort survived for at least 3 years. Medical treatment was based on investigators’ personal opinions, and no clear risk-to-benefit ratio can be derived from the presented data.

Our previous study found that mutations in the PTGIS gene contributed high susceptibility to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We have generated disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from a PAH patient carrying the heterozygous c.1339 G > A mutation in PTGIS gene. The generated iPSC lines can be differentiated into endothelial cells to investigate the pathogenesis of PAH associated with PTGIS gene, which could provide valuable resources for personalized medicine.

The prevalence and distribution of congenital thrombophilia is still unclear in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE). We aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of congenital thrombophilia in PE patients and their subsequent outcomes. A prospective observational study was conducted from May 2013 to June 2018. A total of 436 consecutive patients with PE were enrolled. All patients were tested for protein C, protein S, antithrombin III (ATIII), factor V Leiden, and prothrombin G20210A mutations. The median follow-up duration was ∼800 days (range, 11-1872 days). Congenital thrombophilia was diagnosed in 31 of 436 (7.1%) patients; 12 patients had protein C deficiency (2.8%), 13 had protein S deficiency (3.0%), 5 had ATIII deficiency (1.1%), and 1 had (0.2%) factor V Leiden. Age ≤50 years at the first episode (odds ratio [OR], 5.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.35-13.52; P < .001) and male sex (OR, 2.67; 95% CI, 1.15-6.78; P = .03) were 2 independent predictors of congenital thrombophilia in PE patients. There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of congenital thrombophilia between PE patients with and without risk factors (P = .58). We also found no significant difference in the risk of having a composite outcome of death or recurrent venous thromboembolism between patients with and without congenital thrombophilia (hazard ratio, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.02-5.69; P = .08). These results suggest that age and male sex are independently associated with the occurrence of congenital thrombophilia in PE patients but that congenital thrombophilia is not associated with the risk of recurrence or death with anticoagulation therapy.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is one of the most common hepatic and biliary malignancies, accounting for about 3% of all gastrointestinal tumors. GATA5 is a transcription factor capable of suppressing the development of various human cancer types. Transcriptional inactivation and CpG island (CGI) methylation of GATA3 and GATA5, two members of the GATA family of transcription factors, have been observed in some human cancers. But whether high-density CGI methylation of GATA5 is associated with the clinical course of CCA patients has not been clarified. Herein, we observed reduced expression of GATA5 in CCA tissues compared with noncancerous tissues. Treatment with the demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine restored GATA5 expression in CCA cell lines. Furthermore, GATA5 expression was downregulated after treatment with IL-6 in human intrahepatic biliary epithelial cells. Upregulated GATA5 inhibited CCA cell growth and metastasis. Mechanistically, GATA5 suppressed CCA cell growth and metastasis via Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Specific β-catenin inhibitor or siRNA abolished the discrepancy of the proliferation and metastasis capacity between GATA5-overexpression CCA cells and their control cells, which further confirmed that Wnt/β-catenin was required in GATA5-inhibited CCA cell growth and metastasis.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the value of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) texture analysis for preoperatively predicting microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Accordingly, a retrospective study of 142 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC was performed. The patients were divided into two cohorts: The training cohort (n=99) and the validation cohort (n=43), including the MVI-positive group (n=53) and MVI-negative group (n=89). On the basis of three-dimensional texture analysis, 58 features were extracted from the preoperative CE-MR images of arterial-phase (AP) and portal-venous-phase (PP). The t-test or Kruskal-Wallis test, univariate logistic regression analysis and Pearson correlation were applied for feature reduction. Clinical-radiological features were also analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to build the texture model and combined model with clinical-radiological features. The MVI-predictive performance of the models was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and presented using nomogram. Among the clinical features, a significant difference was found in maximum tumor diameter (P=0.002), tumor differentiation (P=0.026) and α-fetoprotein level (P=0.025) between the two groups in the training cohort. Four MR texture features in AP and five in PP images were identified through feature reduction. On ROC analysis, the AP texture model showed better diagnostic performance than did the PP model in the validation cohort, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.773 vs. 0.623, sensitivity of 0.750 vs. 0.500, and specificity of 0.815 vs. 0.926. Together with the clinical features, the combined model of AP improved the AUC, sensitivity and specificity to 0.810, 0.811 and 0.790, respectively, which was demonstrated in nomogram. To conclude, model-based texture analysis of CE-MRI could predict MVI in HCC preoperatively and noninvasively, and the AP image shows better predictive efficiency than PP image. The combined model of AP with clinical-radiological features could improve MVI prediction ability.

State of the art acoustofluidics typically treat micro-particles in a multi-wavelength range due to the scale limitations of the established ultrasound field. Here, we report a spatial selective acoustofluidic device that allows trapping micro-particles and cells in a wavelength scale. A pair of interdigital transducers with a concentric-arc shape is used to compress the beam width, while pulsed actuation is adopted to localize the acoustic radiation force in the wave propagating direction. Unlike the traditional usage of geometrical focus, the proposed device is designed by properly superposing the convergent section of two focused surface acoustic waves. We successfully demonstrate a single-column alignment of 15-μm polystyrene particles and double-column alignment of 8-μm T cells in a wavelength scale. Through proof-of-concept experiments, the proposed acoustofluidic device shows potential applications in on-chip biological and chemical analyses, where localized handing is required.

Standard fluoroscopic guidance (C-arm fluoroscopy) has been routinely used for intraoperative localization of spinal level for surgical removal of intraspinal tumour, while it is not suitable for selected patients, e.g. pregnant women, who need to avoid radiation exposure. Fusion imaging of real-time ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a radiation-free technique which has been reported to have good localization accuracy in managing several conditions. A 37-year-old pregnant patient, presented with a progressively aggravating lower back pain for 20 days and was incapable of lying supine with lower extremities swelling for 1 week, was referred to our hospital in her 18th week of gestation. Lumbar MRI identified an L1 level intraspinal lesion, and surgery was planned. To avoid the ionizing radiation generated by fluoroscopy, volume navigation technique (VNT) based fusion imaging of US and MRI was used to localize the intraspinal lesion, which was removed entirely via minimally invasive interlaminar approach. Pathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of ependymoma of the conus medullaris. Her symptoms were largely relieved after the operation, and a healthy baby was delivered at the 40th week of pregnancy. We presented the first case of using VNT based fusion imaging of real-time US/MRI to guide the surgical resection of an intraspinal tumour. Future study with larger patient number is needed to validate this technique as an alternative to fluoroscopy in patients who need to avoid radiation exposure.

Several epidemiological studies investigating the association between dietary vitamin E intake and the risk of lung cancer have demonstrated inconsistent results. Hence, a meta-analysis was conducted to summarise evidence of the association of dietary vitamin E intake with the risk of lung cancer.In this meta-analysis, a systematic literature search of PubMed and Web of Science was conducted to identify relevant studies published from 1955 to April 2015. If p0.05 or I250%, a random effect model was used to estimate overall relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Otherwise, a fixed effect model was applied. Publication bias was estimated using the funnel plot and Egger's test. The doseresponse relationship was assessed using the method of restricted cubic splines with 4 knots at percentiles 5, 35, 65, and 95 of the distribution.The pooled RR of lung cancer for the highest versus lowest categories of dietary vitamin E intake was 0.84 (95% CI=0.76-0.93). With every 2 mg/d increase in dietary vitamin E intake, the risk of lung cancer statistically decreased by 5% (RR=0.95, 95% CI =0.91-0.99, plinearity=0.0237).Our analysis suggests that higher dietary vitamin E intake exerts a protective effect against lung cancer.

Based on the taking sample by geological drilling, combined with the fractal principle, analysis on the cracked backfill particle size of its fractal features and strength correlation. Even each backfill sand specimen particle size is difference, but calculation data shows that the particle size of each sand specimen has preferable fractal feature, the sand specimen particle size distribution has remarkable fractal structure by the linear fitted results of the sand specimens. The fractal relationship of strength and particle size distribution shows that with the increased of fractal dimension, the strength of backfill is decreased, that is to say there is negative correlation, the main cause is that the higher parameter D of the fractal dimension, the higher fine-grained content and more non-uniform of the particle size distribution, especially for the thinner full tailings, if properly increasing the content of slightly crude particles, the strength of backfill will be certainly improved to some extent.

Optical glass is widely used as the most important material in optical field in recent years. Glass molding press (GMP) has been employed as a promising technique to manufacture optical components in mass production. Heating time and annealing time are the key factors which influence the production cycle. In this paper, an effective method of improving the heating or the annealing effectiveness is to increase the area exposed to the cooling or hot nitrogen by means of adding slots. In the same condition, four models with different slots were built. Based on the theoretical analysis of glass heating and annealing property in the molding process, finite element simulation was carried out. The results showed that the model with slots may decrease the heating and annealing time.

Glass molding is a high-volume fabrication method for producing optical components. Non-isothermal glass molding press (NGM) was proposed to fabricate optical glass, and its characteristics were studied by finite element method (FEM) simulation. The coupled thermo-mechanical analysis was carried out to analyze the key factors such as temperature distribution, stress distribution and strain distribution. The non-isothermal and isothermal glass molding (IGM) was studied, and optimal temperature match between glass and mold was obtained.

Glass forming process is a high-volume fabrication method for producing glass containers. In this paper, the mechanisms of glass forming process were analyzed. Combined the coupled thermo-mechanical analysis with the finite element method (FEM) simulation, it was carried out to analyze the key process factors such as forming temperature, forming pressure, friction coefficient. The results show that forming pressure has the greatest influence on the stress.

Glass lens molding is a high-volume fabrication method for producing optical components. In this paper, combined with the orthogonal test method and finite element method (FEM) simulation, the coupled thermo-mechanical analysis was carried out to analyze the key process factors. In order to reduce the testing time, an orthogonal test with three sets of level factors and three parameters is conducted to obtain the optimal molding process parameters. The result shows that the most significant parameter is molding velocity, the other effect parameters are molding temperature and friction coefficient. According to the previous analysis of orthogonal experiment, it is shown that the best optimal finishing process parameters were A2B1C1.

Car camera lens is widely used for the safety system of all kinds of vehicles. The car lens should have very wide field angle, strong ability to endure vibration and thermo-mechanical instability as well as erosion. According to these requirements, a new car lens is designed based on the aspheric glass lenses. The whole structure of car lens contains six separated glass lenses including two aspheric lenses. To reduce the cost, the aspheric lenses are made from low-Tg glass which is adaptable for mass production by glass molding press. The total track of lens is less than 30mm. For the enhancement of night vision, the F-number is set to be 2.4. The full FOV (field of view) of 160 is wide enough to capture all the dangerous information around the car. The imaging resolution is designed to be 3 Mega pixels. The designed result proves that the new car lens features high imaging quality. Its MTF (modulation transfer function) value is not less than 0.15 at the Nyquist frequency as for the field angle of 160. At the half Nyquist frequency, the MTF values of the most field angles are not less than 0.5. Therefore, the new lens could be used in the front of car to monitoring the dangerous cases around the corner.

The 3D surface measurement methods are described based on the single and multi-frame fringe projection principles, respectively. The key algorithm  phase reconstructing (PR) is conducted by means of two different concepts; one is the single-frequency spatial phase reconstructing method and the other is the multi-frequency temporal one. On the side of spatial PR, a few typical methods are carried out, among which the most robust one could be achieved. The described spatial methods are implemented under the guide of the suggested modulation gradient variance (MGV) map. Moreover, the network programming (NP) method is also conducted to compare with them. The tested results show that the weighted least square (WLS) is the most robust one among the spatial PR methods. At the same time, the temporal PR method is introduced based on the multi-frequency fringes, and the result proves that it features the better noise immunity and robustness than spatial ones, but needs many different frequencies of fringes that would be more time-consuming. Lastly, the surfaces are reconstructed in reverse engineering (RE) software.

According to the principle of optical design, two kinds of 2 Mega-pixel cell phone camera lenses are proposed. One is made up of three plastic (3P) lenses; the other is made up of two plastic lenses and one glass (2P1G) lens. The shapes of all lenses are aspheric. By comparison, the overall length of 2P1G lens is much less than that of 3P lens. Furthermore, in FOV the former is 5 degrees larger than the latter. At the same time, in distortion of the maximum field angle, the former is much less. The other aberrations of 2P1G lens are almost same to those of 3P lens. Therefore, in cell phone camera lens design, it’s recommended to adopt one aspheric glass lens to improve the performance and compactness though the cost will become a little higher due to the introduction of aspheric glass lens. However, the cost of aspheric glass lens could be reduced tremendously by a new cost-effective manufacturing method  compression molding technology.

According to the actual state of the 1150 horizontal main haulageway of Tailai colliery is in the affected areas of many faults, both on the roof to floor and two sides convergences are about 1000mm,the YTJ20 strata structure detector was used to detect the strata structure character of the roadway roof, it showed the surrounding rock of 1150 horizontal main haulageway is very broken and the maximum failure depth reached to 6m; meanwhile we took 4 group of rock samples from the broken zone to carry out x diffraction, the results showed that the surrounding rock in the broken contained high expansibility rock, so measure of rock surrounding grouting reinforcement was proposed without changing the original supporting parameters. Comparative analysis of rock surrounding reinforcement effect before and after grouting was calculated by FLAC simulation soft. The result shows only supported “bolts + shotcrete layer + cables”, both the deformation speed and deformation amount are very obviously, the community of “rock-support” shows loose and breaking state; But using the combined supporting method of grouting reinforcement and “bolts + shotcrete layer + cables”, the surrounding rock deformation obtained effectively control with less stress release, the community of “rock-support” shows higher integrity degree, It can ensure the safe use of the roadway.

A compensation approach based on the on-machine measurement was developed for the grinding of tungsten carbide aspheric moulds. In this approach, the on-machine measurement was employed to eliminate the profile error caused by the re-installation of the workpiece. A new method was proposed to reconstruct the actual ground profile based on the measured profile data. The overall profile error after grinding was obtained by subtracting the target profile from the actual ground profile along normal direction and was then used to generate a new tool path for compensation grinding. The experimental results showed that after three compensation grinding cycles the aspheric surface had a profile accuracy of 177 nm (in PV) with a roughness of 1.7 nm (in Ra). The on-machine measurement was in excellent agreement with the off-machine measurement by commercially available profilometers.

A compensation method was proposed for correcting wheel setting error and residual form error in nanogrinding of axisymmetric surfaces. In this method, profile data from on-machine measurement were used to obtain the setting error of grinding wheel, as well as the normal residual form error. Compensation model of single-point inclined-axis grinding was built up for generating new compensation path. Grinding test of aspheric tungsten carbide mould was conducted to evaluate performances of the compensation method. A profile error of 182 nm (peak to valley) and average surface roughness of 1.71 nm were achieved. These results indicated that the form error compensation method may significantly improve form accuracy of ground surface.

Optical glass is widely used as the most important basic material in optical field. In this paper, four different shape finishing tools are designed for polishing flat K9 glass by using magneto-rheological finishing process. Influences of the finishing tool’s shape on surface roughness are investigated and analyzed under different related parameters such as finishing time, rotational speed of tool and finishing gap. The result shows that the slotted tool could obtain better surface roughness than the non-slotted tool under the same conditions. Through changing the magnetic field intensity, finishing gap, rotational speed of tool and finishing time, an orthogonal experiment is conducted to obtain the optimal finishing process parameters.

The present authors proposed a new centerless grinding technique for the fabrication of microscale pin-shaped parts. The new technique uses an ultrasonic vibration shoe whose structure and dimensions was determined in detail by FEM analysis instead of a regulating wheel as in conventional centerless grinding. The workpiece is supported by the end face of the shoe and the blade, and the rotational motion is controlled by the micro elliptic motion generated on the end face of the shoe. a shoe was made and installed on an existing centerless grinder to perform actual microscale centreless grinding operations involving a tungsten carbide pin-shaped workpiece 0.6 mm in diameter and 15mm in length. The experimental result gave a microscale workpiece 75μm in diameter and 15 mm in length.

This paper reported an experimental study on ultra-precision grinding for micro aspherical lens mould. One-point grinding mode and inclined axis grinding mode are employed and investigated in grinding process. Grinding test of a micro-lens mould using form error compensation technique is conducted. The experimental results show that ground micro aspheric mould surfaces with form (PV) around 0.122 µm and a roughness (Ra) less than 2 nm is achieved successfully.

The lens molding technology has become a promising fabrication method for glass lens, especially for aspheric glass lens in batch. Because during the real compression molding, the error compensation for mold shape turns very difficult, the mold needs to be repaired repeatedly to meet the requirements of lens molding. To solve this problem, a cooperative design scheme is proposed. However, the scheme is not limited to solving the mold repairing; it also aims to providing the integrated and optimal design for aspheric glass-lens mold. In fact, the cooperative scheme is a collaborative software platform, which integrates with data processing, optical design, finite element analysis, error compensation and mechanical design for lens molding. On this platform, users only need to submit the (camera) lens parameters or measured data of aspheric lens, and then the platform can provide the final mold drawings, which will be input in the CNC software of ultra-precision machine and guide the mold fabrication. Meanwhile, the cooperative platform is Network-based PDM system, so designers could remotely communicate with it and help to finish the mold design jointly. In this case, the cooperative design could tremendously improve the efficiency and accuracy of lens molding.

In this paper, a new method of improving uniformity of surface roughness through controlling feed rate was proposed. A CNC grinding software based on feed rate controlling and error compensation for aspheric surface was developed. The structure and function of the software system was described. An experimental test for grinding aspheric surface of WC mould was conducted for evaluating the performance of the compensation process by using this developed software. After compensation grinding for several times, form accuracy of PV 126 nm, roughness of Ra 3.4 nm can be obtained.

This paper clarifies the influence of the geometrical arrangement of the workpiece on workpiece roundness in the ultrasonic elliptic-vibration shoe centerless grinding, and determines an optimum geometrical arrangement for minimizing the roundness error of the workpiece. The influences of the geometrical arrangements of the workpiece on workpiece roundness were investigated by computer simulation and practical grinding operations involving pin shaped workpieces. The experimental results agreed closely with those obtained by the simulation, the results of simulation and grinding tests indicated that the final roundness error of the workpiece after grinding reaches a minimum at a particular angle number (= + =7) for various values of the blade angle.

This paper reports a study on oxide film formation mechanism in electrodeless ELID grinding. The formation mechanism of oxide film was analyzed based on electrochemical principles, its formation model was built and the growth process was also simulated. The simulation results showed that the oxide film thickness h and its growth rate g are nonlinear functions of time t, voltage and duty cycle are important factors which take effect on g and h, and the electrodeless ELID grinding is a process of weak electrolysis and suitable to use micro wheel.

Similar material simulation test was carried out in a geological model of W9–15101 fully mechanized caving face with large mining height in the Liuhuanggou Colliery, in Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height was studied and show that the roof overlying strata in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height can be formed into a stable arch structure; the fracture rock beam is formed resembling a “bond beam”, but it has essentially the structure of “multi-span beams” under the big structure of the stable arch. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is similar to that of the common, fully mechanized caving stope, which is determined by the deformation and instability of the structure of “multi-span beams”. But because of the differences between the mining heights, the peak pressure in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is smaller while the affected area of abutment pressure is wider in the front of the working face; this is the obvious difference in abutment pressure between the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height and that of the common.

This paper reports a systematic investigation of high speed grinding of hard-to-machining of titanium alloys. The ground surfaces were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, and the effects of different grinding parameters on roughness were discussed. A numerical model was established to predict surface roughness based on the evolutionary neural network optimized by Genetic Algorithm (GA). The modeled results were in good agreement with the experimental results.

This paper investigates the effect of horizontal vibration assistance on surface roughness in magnetic abrasive finishing, and the material removal mechanism associated. The experiments on vibration-assisted finishing have clearly indicated that the improvement of surface roughness is mainly attributed to the cross-cutting effect of abrasives.

ELID (electrolytic in-process dressing) grinding was proposed by one of the authors for automatic dressing the grinding wheel while performing grinding for a long time. It offers a high effective way and has been widely used for grinding hard and brittle optical materials. However, those surfaces produced by fixed abrasive grinding are characterized by considerable sub-surface damage, micro-crack. Magneto-rheological finishing (MRF) is a novel precision finishing process for deterministic form correction and polishing of optical materials by utilizing magneto-rheological fluid. In this paper, an ultra-precision synergistic finishing process integrated MRF and ELID grinding is proposed for shorten total finishing time and improve finishing quality. A lot of nano-precision experiments have been carried out to grind and finish some optical materials such as silicon, silicon carbide, etc. ELID grinding is employed to obtain high efficiency and high surface quality, and then, MRF is employed to improve further surface roughness and form accuracy. In general, form accuracy of ~ λ/20 nm peak-to-valley (P-V) and surface roughness less than 10 Angstrom are produced in high efficiency.

This paper proposed a viewpoint to explain why vibration assistance may increase material removal rate (MRR) in vibration-assisted magnetic abrasive finishing process. A series of experiments on vibration-assisted finishing have been carried out. On the basis of these experiments, the finishing characteristics are represented summarily. It was shown that the increase in material rate is mainly due to an increase in material removal per unit working distance.

Moreover, the prognosis of patients diagnosed with grade III gliomas varies significantly. In this study, we assessed the factors that contribute to the prognosis of patients with grade III gliomas. Methods Data from 97 patients with grade III glioma who received surgery from 2000 to 2005 were included in this study. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to analyze the prognostic effects of 16 different factors selected from clinical characteristics, results from neuroimaging and pathological examinations, as well as different treatment schemes. Results The results indicated that age, preoperative Karnofsky Performance Scale score, extent of tumor invasion, tumor resection degree, residual tumor shown by postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy all correlated with patient prognosis. Furthermore, Cox multivariate analysis also showed the age ( P

Conventional stability analysis of slopes is established on vertical slices with a linear Mohr-Coulomb (MC) failure criterion. In this paper, the soil mass of slopes is assumed to follow linear and nonlinear failure criteria. A new procedure is proposed for determination of stability factors of slopes using triangular slices within the framework of limit analysis method under plane strain condition. The potential sliding mass is divided into a series of triangular slices, rather than vertical slices as usual. Using a generalized tangential technique, the nonlinear failure criterion is simplified as a set of straight lines according to the linear MC failure criterion. The straight line is tangential to the curve of the nonlinear failure criterion. With a linear MC failure criterion, solutions to stability factors are determined by limit analysis theory, which agree well with the published solutions. With triangular slices method, a study is carried out to investigate the influences of nonlinear parameter on stability of the soil slope.

To investigate the effect of microwave emitted by mobile phones on the rat central nervous system (CNS), in vitro cultured cortical neuronal cells and in vivo rat’s brain were exposed to the electromagnetic waves emitted by a microwave transmitter that mimics the working frequency of mobile phones. Trypan blue staining and terminal deoxynucleotidy transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) were used to determine the survival state of neuronal cells while immunohistochemistry method was used to determine the expression level of Bcl-2 and Bax. Our results show that microwave lead to significant cell death in culture and more in vivo brain neuronal cells were stained positive for TUNEL, Bax and Bcl-2 in rats with cranial defect after exposure than that for † To whom correspondence should be addressed: Department of Neurosurgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 88 Jiefang Road, Hangzhou 310009, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China

Glass molding press (GMP) is a kind of mass production method to manufacture infrared aspheric lenses made from chalcogenide. However, it's hard to determine the molding parameters during the GMP process because the lens forming is conducted under the high-temperature conditions. In this paper, the finite element method (FEM) is used to simulate the GMP process based on the general Maxwell viscoelastic model and thermo-rheologically simple property. During the simulation, 2-D axisymmetric FEM model is constructed according to the different pressing velocities and friction coefficients, which change from 0.01mm/s to 0.5mm/s and from 0.01 to 0.2, respectively. To improve the simulation accuracy, the heating and pressing steps are separate and the heated result is taken as the pre-state of pressing step. The final results show that the best molding conditions are 0.1~0.2mm/s in velocity and 0.1~0.15 in friction coefficient for the infrared aspheric lenses made from chalcogenide of Ge33As12Se55.

To investigate the effect of handportable mobiletelephone microwave radiation on rat central nervous system by setting up rat model.80 healthy male SD rats (weighed about 200 g) were divided into 4 groups at random: control, radiation, decranium, decranium + radiation. TUNEL method was adopted used to detect the apoptosis of neurons after irradiation, then immunohistochemistry was used to detect Bcl-2, Bax expression in all brain tissue.TUNEL positive rate, Bax and Bcl-2 positive cell numbers could be found in decranium + radiation group [(26.45 +/- 9.27)%, (23.5 +/- 3.58), (11.1 +/- 2.55) respectively]. There were significant differences among control [(9.59 +/- 2.55)%, 14.2 +/- 2.46, 7.0 +/- 1.14 respectively], decranium group [(9.52 +/- 1.93)%, 15.5 +/- 1.77, 7.4 +/- 1.76], radiation group [(10.04 +/- 3.62)%, 15.9 +/- 2.02, 7.2 +/- 1.07] (P0.01). But the difference was not found in the ratio of Bax to Bcl-2.Microwave radiation did not affect the intact rat, but did promote the occurrence of neuron apoptosis in cranial defect rat. Bax, Bcl-2 gene participated in regulation of apoptosis. The intact cranium may be an important factor to protect the neurons against handportable mobiletelephone microwave radiation to some extent.