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A total of 162 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were divided into discovery (N = 68) and validation (N = 94) groups. Nine Janus kinase/Signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway-related single nucleotide polymorphisms were selected to explore the potential associations between genetic polymorphisms and adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The TT genotype of STAT6 rs324011 was significantly associated with severe ADRs in the recessive genetic model (TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 13.5, 95% CI = 2.12–86.09, p = 0.006 in the discovery group; OR = 8.41, 95% CI = 1.95–36.19, p = 0.004 in the validation group). The T allele was associated with a higher incidence of severe ADRs than was the C allele of rs324011 (OR = 3.67, 95% CI = 1.46–9.19, p = 0.006 in the discovery group; OR = 3.17, 95% CI = 1.44–6.99, p = 0.004 in the validation group). Patients with the CC genotype in STAT3 rs1053023 (and rs1053005) or the TT genotype of STAT6 rs324011 were likely to experience severe epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) related ADRs. A graphical illustration of this study was shown in the Graphical Abstract. The current study process of nine critical SNPs involving the JAK/STAT pathway in Chinese NSCLC participants receiving EGFR-TKIs therapy was illustrated.

It is unclear how Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 signaling affects protein succinylation in the brain after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Here, we constructed a mouse ICH model to investigate the changes in ICH-associated brain protein succinylation, following a treatment with a TLR4 antagonist, TAK242, using a high-resolution mass spectrometry-based, quantitative succinyllysine proteomics approach. We characterized the prevalence of approximately 6700 succinylation events and quantified approximately 3500 sites, highlighting 139 succinyllysine site changes in 40 pathways. Further analysis showed that TAK242 treatment induced an increase of 29 succinyllysine sites on 28 succinylated proteins and a reduction of 24 succinyllysine sites on 23 succinylated proteins in the ICH brains. TAK242 treatment induced both protein hypersuccinylations and hyposuccinylations, which were mainly located in the mitochondria and cytoplasm. GO analysis showed that TAK242 treatment-induced changes in the ICH-associated succinylated proteins were mostly located in synapses, membranes and vesicles, and enriched in many cellular functions/compartments, such as metabolism, synapse, and myelin. KEGG analysis showed that TAK242-induced hyposuccinylation was mainly linked to fatty acid metabolism, including elongation and degradation. Moreover, a combined analysis of the succinylproteomic data with previously published transcriptome data revealed that most of the differentially succinylated proteins induced by TAK242 treatment were mainly distributed throughout neurons, astrocytes, and endothelial cells, and the mRNAs of seven and three succinylated proteins were highly expressed in neurons and astrocytes, respectively. In conclusion, we revealed that several TLR4 signaling pathways affect the succinylation processes and pathways in mouse ICH brains, providing new insights on the ICH pathophysiological processes. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD025622.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the association between triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index/homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) within young adults and congestive heart failure (CHF), and to explore whether TyG index can replace HOMA-IR as a surrogate marker for IR in predicting the risk of CHF.MethodsA total of 4,992 participants between the ages of 18 and 30 years were enrolled from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) investigation [from 1985 to 1986 (year 0)]. A Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was conducted for assessing correlations between baseline TyG index/HOMA-IR and CHF events, together with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve employed for scrutinizing TyG index/HOMA-IR and the risk of CHF.ResultsDuring the 31-year follow-up period, 64 (1.3%) of the 4,992 participants developed CHF. In multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for confounding factors for CHF, an increased risk of CHF was associated with a per-unit increase in the TyG index [hazard ratio (HR) 2.8; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.7–4.7] and HOMA-IR (HR 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1–1.3). A Kaplan–Meier curve analysis showed that participants in the TyG index and HOMA-IR index Q4 group had a higher risk of CHF than those in the Q1 group. The area under curve (AUC) for the TyG index and HOMA-IR consisted of 0.67 (95% CI, 0.6–0.742) and 0.675 (95% CI, 0.604–0.746), respectively. There were no significant differences between the TyG index and HOMA-IR for AUC (p = 0.986).ConclusionThe higher TyG index and HOMA-IR are independent risk factors for CHF. The TyG index can replace HOMA-IR in young adulthood as a surrogate marker for IR to predict the risk of CHF.

Ligustilide is a phenolic compound isolated from Asian plants of Umbelliferae family. This study was aimed at exploring the neuroprotective effects of Ligustilide from the perspective of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and autophagy. The Alzheimer's disease (AD) cell models were constructed by SH-SY5Y cell line, which was exposed to 20 μM Aβ25-35 . CCK-8 was used to evaluate the cell viability of Ligustilide on AD cell model. Hoechst staining and LysoTracker Red were used to test the cell apoptosis and Lysosome function, respectively. ERS in living cells were detected by Thioflavin T. The expression of autophagy-related proteins (LC3B-II/I, P62/SQSTM1, Beclin1, and Atg5), ERS marker proteins (PERK, GRP78, and CHOH), and apoptosis proteins (Bax, Bcl-2, and Caspase-12) were analyzed by Western blot analyses. Aβ25-35 could induce ERS and autophagy in a time-dependent manner in SH-SY5Y cells. We demonstrated that Ligustilide significantly decreased the rate of apoptosis, and improved the viability of cells. Simultaneously, Ligustilide effectively modulated ERS via inhibiting the over-activation of GRP78/PERK/CHOP signaling pathway. In addition, Ligustilide alleviated the accumulation of autophagy vacuoles, reduced the ratio of LC3B-II/I and the level of P62/SQSTM1. Ligustilide significantly up-regulated lysosomal acidity and the expression of Cathepsin D (CTSD). Ligustilide could rescue lysosomal function to promote autophagy flux and inhibit the over-activation of ERS. This finding may contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies for AD.

ObjectiveTo explore the association between dietary fiber and heart failure (HF).MethodsData were collected from the 2009–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Dietary fiber intake data were obtained from two 24-h dietary recall interviews. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models were used to explore the association of dietary intakes of total, cereal, fruit, and vegetable fiber with HF prevalence.ResultsA total of 21869 adults were included in this study. After adjusting for multiple confounding factors, the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for HF was 0.49 (0.28 to 0.87, P for trend = 0.016) for the highest tertile versus lowest tertile of total fiber intake. Similar results were observed for cereal but not fruit and vegetable fiber intake. Dose-response analysis indicated that dietary intake of total and cereal fiber were inversely associated with HF in a linear manner.ConclusionIntakes of total and cereal fiber were inversely associated with HF in adults.

Introduction: Cell senescence has been identified as an impact etiological factor in cardiovascular diseases, as well as calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) . In our previous experiment results, We found that a large number of senescent aortic valve interstitial cells (AVIC) accumulated in the calcific aortic valve tissues, especially around the calcification sites. But the role and mechanism of cellular senescence in the development of calcified aortic stenosis have not been clarified. We hypothesized valvular interstitial cell senescence sensitize interstitial cell for osteogenic response through enhancing cell senescence associated epigenetic modification. Methods and Results: Representative immunofluorescence results of the clinical samples show that p16INK4A positive cells in the calcific aortic valve expressed more osteogenic associated factors, such as Runx2 and BMP2. And RAS system hyperactivation seemed to be an impact association with aortic valve calcification. Then we found Angiotensin II (1μM, 72h) chronic irritation induces valve interstitial cell senescence associated secretion phenotype (SASP) and activates osteogenic response through ERK1/2 and NF-κB pathway. ChIP-qPCR results demonstrated H3K9Me3 modifications on the promoters of Runx2, ACTA2(also known as α-SMA), IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1 were significantly decreased in angiotensin II pretreated AVIC. Blockage of angiotensin II and ABT-263 pretreatment inhibited valvular interstitial cell to convert into osteoblast-like phenotype induced by Angiotensin II, as well as attenuating senescence associated secretion phenotype factors yield. Blockage of angiotensin II receptor and p16 INK4A knockdown contributed to recover H3K9me3 modification on the promoters of those gene in angiotensin II pretreated AVIC through attenuating angiotensin II-induced ubiquitination degradation of SUV39H1. Conclusion: p16 INK4A mediated H3K9me3 decline sensitizes aortic valvular interstitial cell for osteogenic response, which impacts on aortic valve homeostasis and aortic valve calcification. Taken together, p16 INK4A positive senescent cells would be the potential target on prevention and treatment of calcific aortic valve disease.

The details of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 signaling affects protein succinylation in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) brains remains completely unclear. In this study, we constructed mice ICH models to investigate the changes in ICH-associated brain protein succinylation with the treatment of TLR4 antagonist, TAK242, using a high-resolution mass spectrometry-based, quantitative succinyllysine proteomics approach. We characterized a concentration of approximately 6700 succinylation events and quantified approximately 3500 sites, highlighting 139 succinyllysine site changes in 40 pathways. Further analysis showed that TAK242 treatment induced an increase in 29 succinyllysine sites of 28 succinylated proteins and reduction of 24 succinyllysine sites on 23 succinylated proteins in ICH brains. Both the TAK242 treatment induced hypersuccinylated and hyposuccinylated proteins in ICH brains were mainly located in mitochondria and cytoplasm. GO analysis showed that TAK242 treatment induced changes in ICH-associated succinylated proteins were mostly located in synapse, membrane, vesicle, etc., and enriched in many processes, such as metabolism, synapse, myeline, etc.. KEGG analysis showed that TAK242 induced downregulation of succinylation was significantly linked to fatty acid metabolism and lysosome. Moreover, a combination analysis of our succinylproteomic data with previously published transcriptome data identified that most of the differentially succinylated proteins induced by TAK242 treatment were mainly distributed into neurons, astrocytes and endothelial cells; and 7 and 3 of these succinylated proteins significantly high express in neurons and astrocytes, respectively. In conclusion, our analyses uncover a number of TLR4 signaling affected succinylation processes and pathways in mouse ICH brains and provide new insights for understanding ICH pathophysiological processes. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD025622.

Autophagy serves an important role in amyloid-β (Aβ) metabolism and τ processing and clearance in Alzheimer's disease. The progression of Aβ plaque accumulation and hyperphosphorylation of τ proteins are enhanced by oxidative stress. A hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) injury cell model was established using SH-SY5Y cells. Cells were randomly divided into normal, H2O2 and chlorogenic acid (5-caffeoylquinic acid; CGA) groups. The influence of CGA on cell viability was evaluated using a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and cell death was assessed using Hoechst 33342 nuclear staining. Autophagy induction and fusion of autophagic vacuoles assays were performed using monodansylcadaverine staining. Additionally, SH-SY5Y cells expressing Ad-mCherry-green fluorescent protein-LC3B were established to detect autophagic flow. LysoTracker Red staining was used to evaluate lysosome function and LysoSensor™ Green staining assays were used to assess lysosomal acidification. The results demonstrated that CGA decreased the apoptosis rate, increased cell viability and improved cell morphology in H2O2-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Furthermore, CGA alleviated the accumulation of autophagic vacuoles, reduced the LC3BII/I ratio and decreased P62 levels, resulting in increased autophagic flux. Additionally, CGA upregulated lysosome acidity and increased the expression levels of cathepsin D. Importantly, these effects of CGA on H2O2-treated SH-SY5Y cells were mediated via the mTOR-transcription factor EB signaling pathway. These results indicated that CGA protected cells against H2O2-induced oxidative damage via the upregulation of autophagosomes, which promoted autophagocytic degradation and increased autophagic flux.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-taj-10.1177_20406223211056730 for Efficacy and safety of antithrombotic therapy with non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants after transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a systematic review and meta-analysis by Qing An, Shuwen Su, Yan Tu, Lingfeng Gao, Gaopeng Xian, Yujia Bai, Qiong Zhan, Xingbo Xu, Dingli Xu and Qingchun Zeng in Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease

Increasing demand for DRAM scaling and high-bandwidth has driven DRAM technology to 3D/2.5D integration. With the innovative Hybrid Bonding technology, a new Stacked Embedded DRAM (SEDRAM) architecture was developed on LPDDR4/4X product. In this SEDRAM, a DRAM array wafer and logic wafer were fabricated separately and then face-to-face fusion connected through ultra-high-density, low-resistance Hybrid Bonding. By separating the control, I/O, DFT and periphery circuits to a logic die, SEDRAM offers a novel approach to DRAM product development and accomplishes an extremely high-bandwidth logic-to-memory interface speed of 34GBps per 1Gb with low power consumption as low as 0.88pJ/bit.

Ligustilide is a phenolic compound isolated from Asian plants of Umbelliferae family. This study was aimed at exploring the neuroprotective effects of Ligustilide from the perspective of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and autophagy. The Alzheimer's disease (AD) cell models were constructed by SH-SY5Y cell line, which was exposed to 20 μM Aβ

Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) is a water channel protein in spinal cord and plays a critical role in the pathophysiological process of spinal cord injury (SCI). However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of AQP4 involved in SCI. The present study was performed to investigate the possible molecules regulated by AQP4 after SCI by use of lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi). First, the motor function was evaluated by Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan (BBB) scale and the expression of AQP4 was measured by western blot, immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence in rats after contusion spinal cord injury (cSCI). After cSCI, the rats exhibited a gradual motor function recovery from 3dpo to 28dpo. And the expression and localization of AQP4 changed with different post-injury stages. At 3d after SCI, AQP4 located mainly in vascular endothelial cells (VECs) in the anterior horn of spinal cord, which was similar to the sham rats. At 7d and 28d after SCI, AQP4 was expressed both in VECs and the position of neuron membranes. The protein level of AQP4 increased significantly at 12h, 1d and 3d after SCI, and decreased slightly at 7d after SCI. Then lentivirus-mediated AQP4 RNA interference (AQP4-RNAi) was constructed and used to inhibit AQP4 expression in cSCI rats. The results from real-time quantitative polymerase chain reactions (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemical staining suggested that the expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) was up-regulated by lentivirus-mediated AQP4 inhibition in cSCI rats, while the motor function recovery was accelerated. The results suggested that the acceleration of motor function recovery by AQP4 inhibition was associated with NGF up-regulation. This is the first report on the relationship between AQP4 and NGF in SCI, which may shed light on illustrating the role of AQP4 in SCI. These findings may also provide strategies of the clinical treatment for SCI in the future.

Wolf-Rayet stars (WR stars) were discovered by French astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet in 1867. The Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are the evolved descents of the most massive, extremely hot (temperatures up to 200000 K) and very luminous (105\begin{document}$ L_{\odot} $\end{document}－106\begin{document}$L_{\odot}$\end{document}) O stars, with 25\begin{document}$ M_{\odot} $\end{document}－30\begin{document}$M_{\odot}$\end{document} solar mass for solar metallicity. The WR stars possess very strong stellar winds, which have velocities up to 3000 km/s and wind mass loss rate \begin{document}$10^{-5} M_{\odot}$\end{document} a year. These winds are observed in the broad emission line profiles (sometimes, even P-Cygni profiles) of WR spectra in the optical and UV range. Actually, these winds are so strong that they can peel the star and convert it into a nude nucleus without envelope. It has been found that three bright galactic stars located at Cygnus region have broad strong emission bands, rather than absorptions lines, superposed on the typical continuum of hot stars. In 1930 Beals correctly identified these features as emission lines produced by high ionized elements such as helium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. The physical factors which can affect the evolution of WR stars are explored in this paper. These physical factors include stellar mass, initial velocities, orbital periods, metallicities, etc. According to the equations for angular momentum transfer and chemical element diffusion, we can ascertainhow these physical factors influence the evolution of WR stars and the mixing of chemical elements in WR stars.The result indicates that massive stars with high initial velocities and metallicities have strong stellar winds and be prone to producing WR stars. In contrast with the counterpart with high metallicities,it is hard for the single star with low metallicity to generate WR star due to weak wind. However, the star with very high initial velocity and low metallicity can form chemical homogenious evolution. Thestar has an enlarged convective core and a very thin hydrogen envelope and it can also generate WR star. The component in the binary system with short orbital period can transfer mass to the companion star through Roche lobe overflow, and this physical process can produce WR star under the condition of low metallicity. Furthermore, mass removal due to Roche lobe overflow reduces the temperature of stellar convective core and rate of nuclear reaction. It is shown that mass metallicities of chemical elements including 4He, 12C, 19F, 22Ne, 23Na, 25Mg in the primary star are higher than those in the single stars, whereas mass metallicities of chemical elements including 1H, 14N, 16O, 20Ne, and 26Al are lower than those in the single counterparts. In a word, the conditions for massive stars with high initial velocities and metallicities in the binary system with short orbital period favor the formation of WR stars.

Objective To observe and compare the efficacy differences between combined Jin’s three-needle and rehabilitation training and rehabilitation training alone for hemiplegia following an ischemic stroke.

A preliminary analysis on the risk factors of liver dysfunction was made after the investigation of hepatitis B prevalence and chemotherapy-related hepatic dysfunction occurrence for patients with lung cancer.Consecutively diagnosed 950 lung cancer patients treated in Huashan Hospital, Fudan University from 1999 to 2009 were enrolled in the study. We investigated hepatitis B (HB) prevalence and analyzed chemotherapy-related hepatic dysfunction occurrence and its influencing factors. Liver dysfunction was considered when alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, and serum bilirubin levels exceeded at least 1.25-fold of normal levels, and HB statuses were categorized into diagnosed HB, previous HB infection, HB immunity, and no HB infection.Among the 950 lung cancer patients, 632 accepted the HB serum marker tests: 8.4 % (53/632) were HB surface antigen positive, and 37.2 % (235/632) were HB core antibody positive. A number of 281 patients received liver function follow-up examinations after they underwent a total of 774 chemotherapy courses, and 34 liver dysfunctions were detected. A logistic regression analysis showed that younger age at diagnosis (≤60 years; P = 0.029) and abnormal liver function before chemotherapy (P = 0.000) were the risk factors for liver dysfunctions after chemotherapy, but HB status had no influence.The screening rates for serum HB marker and HB prevalence in patients with lung cancer were high in mainland China. Lung cancer patients with abnormal liver function before chemotherapy and in younger ages had higher risks for liver dysfunctions after chemotherapies, whereas HB status before the first chemotherapy is not an independent impact factor for post-treatment liver dysfunctions.

Distributed software systems often intertwine the handling of application functionalities with distribution related issues including location transparent access to services, workload allocation among different hosts, adaptation to changing conditions of the network. In the paper, a computational reflection based distributed query model is proposed. The model uses computational reflection to divide the distributed query system into two levels: the meta level and the base level. Meta objects that existed in the meta level are responsible for control and description of the base level, hence the state change of the base level could be captured by the meta level and be controlled according to the meta level’s reaction. The advantages of the model are that adapt different changes such as data resources in the network, network conditions, query plan, and provide the capability of fault tolerance.

The tide is a very important physical factor which can significantly affect the structure and evolution of stars. The physical factors which can affect tidal synchronization and orbital circularization are explored in this paper. For stars with radiative envelopes, radiative damping mechanism is required to explain the observed synchronization and circularization of close binaries. A star can experience a range of oscillations that arise from, and are driven by, the tidal field:the dynamical tides. The dynamical tide is the dynamical response to the tidal force exerted by the companion; it takes into account the elastic properties of the star, and the possibilities of resonances with its free modes of oscillation. The dissipation mechanism acting on this kind of tide is the deviation from adiabaticity of the forced oscillation, due to the radiative damping. Several physical factors can have an influence on the process of radiative damping which is scaled with thermal timescale. These physical factors include stellar mass, initial velocity, orbital period, metallicity, overshooting, etc. According to the equations for angular momentum transfer and chemical elements diffusion, we can obtain how these physical factors affect the evolution of rotating binaries and the mixing of chemical elements in two rotating components. The results indicates that the binaries with massive stars, smaller initial spin velocities, smaller overshooting parameters, and shorter orbital periods can attain the equilibrium speed and orbital circularization early. At synchronous states, the tidal torque is zero and stellar winds continue to brake the star. Therefore, two components cannot keep the synchronous state for a long time. At the equilibrium state, the tidal torque is counteracted by wind torques. Therefore, the equilibrium speed is less than the synchronous one. The system with smaller initial spin velocities reaches the equilibrium speed and orbital circularization early because angular momentum transformation between spin and the orbit can shorten the orbital distance and increase the tidal torques. Nitrogen enrichment in binaries is weaker than the one in single stars due to tidal braking. The results reveal that the system with massive components, higher metallicities, larger overshooting parameters, and shorter orbital periods can display high nitrogen enrichment. Stellar radius is small in the star with lower mass, lower metallicities, slower spin speeds and larger overshooting parameters whereas the star with lower metallicities have higher surface effective temperature. Rapid rotating stars evolve towards low temperature and luminosity in the HR diagram.

The aim of this study was to ascertain the relationship between the phosphorylation of FOXO1 and the apoptosis and the proliferation of lymphoma cells so as to further clarify the cellular biology and pathogenesis of the disease. The lymphoma cells Namalwa and Jurkat were treated with PI3K inhibitor wortmannin or etoposide alone or wortmannin plus etoposide with different schedule. The inhibition rates of lymphoma cell growth were examined by XTT assay. Apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. The expression of p-Akt, p-FOXO1, FOXO1, bim were determined by western blot analysis. Wortmannin induced apoptosis of Jurkat cells and Namalwa cells and inhibited their survival effectively. The rate of growth inhibition and apoptosis of lymphoma cells induced by wortmannin plus etoposide were higher than those induced by etoposide alone. After treated with wortmannin, phosphorylation of FOXO1 remarkably reduced and bim increased. The dephosphorylation of FOXO1 inhibited proliferation of Jurkat cells and Namalwa cells, promoted their apoptosis and sensitized Non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells to etoposide. Bim activated by FOXO1 promoted cells apoptosis.

The recovery of motor function in rats is inhibited following contusion spinal cord injury (cSCI). However, the mechanism of tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in motor function after cSCI associated with peroxiredoxin 6 (PRDX6) remains unknown. We randomly divided rats into four groups: sham, cSCI, vector and lentivirus mediating TNF-α RNA interference (TNF-α-RNAi-LV) group. The Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan (BBB) scale was used to evaluate motor function. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting were used to detect the expression of TNF-α and PRDX6, which were located in neurons using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence. Subsequently, lentiviral-mediated TNF-α was used to determine the role of TNF-αand the relationship of PRDX6 and TNF-α in cSCI. After cSCI, the motor capability of hind limbs disappeared and was followed by recovery of function. IHC analysis indicated that TNF-α and PRDX6 were primarily located in spinal cord neurons. TNF-α interference significantly improved neural behaviour and increased expression of PRDX6. Our study suggests that inhibition of TNF-α can promote the recovery of motor function. The underlying mechanism of TNF-α-promoted motor function may be connected with the up-regulation of PRDX6. This provides a new strategy or target for the clinical treatment of SCI in future.

Synaptosomal-associated protein 25 kDa (SNAP-25) is localized on the synapse and participates in exocytosis and neurotransmitter release. Decreased expression of SNAP-25 is associated with Alzheimer's disease and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. However, the expression of SNAP-25 in spinal cord contusion injury is still unclear. We hypothesized that SNAP-25 is associated with sensory and locomotor functions after spinal cord injury. We established rat models of spinal cord contusion injury to detect gene changes with a gene array. A decreased level of SNAP-25 was detected by quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction and western blot assay at 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days post injury. SNAP-25 was localized in the cytoplasm of neurons of the anterior and posterior horns, which are involved in locomotor and sensory functions. Our data suggest that reduced levels of SNAP-25 are associated with sensory and locomotor functions in rats with spinal cord contusion injury.

To compare the clinical efficacy in the treatment of post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome between floating-needle therapy and conventional acupuncture on the basis of rehabilitation training.One hundred cases of post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome were randomized into a floating-needle group and an acupuncture group, 50 cases in each one. The passive and positive rehabilitation training was adopted in the two groups. Additionally, in the floating-needle group, the floating-needle therapy was used. The needle was inserted at the site 5 to 10 cm away from myofasical trigger point (MTrP), manipulated and scattered subcutaneously, for 2 min continuously. In the acupuncture group, the conventional acupuncture was applied at Jianqian (EX-UE), Jianyu (LI 15), Jianliao (TE 14), etc. The treatment was given once every two days, 3 times a week, and 14 days of treatment were required. The shoulder hand syndrome scale (SHSS), the short form McGill pain scale (SF-MPQ) and the modified Fugl-Meyer motor function scale (FMA) were used to evaluate the damage severity, pain and motor function of the upper limbs before and after treatment in the two groups. The clinical efficacy was compared between the two groups.SHSS score, SF-MPQ score and FMA score were improved significantly after treatment in the two groups (all P0.01), and the improvements in the floating-needle group were superior to those in the acupuncture group (all P0.05). The total effective rate was 94.0% (47/50) in the floating-needle group, which was better than 90.0% (45/50) in the acupuncture group (P0.05).The floating-needle therapy combined with rehabilitation training achieves a satisfactory efficacy on post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome, which is better than the combined therapy of conventional acupuncture and rehabilitation training.

A boundary-element method with a quadratic time interpolation technique is developed for transient eddy-current problems. A time-domain discretization element and its integral formulations are presented. Two examples are given and compared with previous solutions to demonstrate that the proposed technique has the important advantage that a larger time step can be used. >

A novel algorithm for computing optimal constrained triangulation is presented which is equally applicable to 2-D and 3-D optimal constrained triangulation and Delaunay triangulation. This algorithm has no degenerate and near-degenerate problems. The same amount of time is needed to add a new point to an existing mesh of any element number provided that the element it belongs to has been predetermined, as in the self-adaptive finite-element analysis process. This algorithm has been applied to finite-element mesh generation. Test results are given. >

Rotation and tide are two important factors which have an influence on the stellar structure and evolution. They cannot be neglected. According to the observation data of the massive binary system V478 Cyg, we test the theoretical model including the deformation which is induced by rotation and tide (our model). We compare our model with Kähler-Eggleton (KE) model, and the distorted model is more consistent with observations than the traditional model (KE model). Besides, it is found that great deformation occurs in the outer envelope, where its density is lower than the mean density. Rotation and tide can cause the gravity at the two polar points to increase and the gravity in the equatorial plane to decrease. Therefore, the radiative flux, which depends on the local effective gravity, is not constant on the equipotentials any more. The poles which become hotter, experience a high mass loss than the equator, which becomes cooler. Furthermore, the two components in our model have bigger radii, equatorial velocities and central compactness and low H-energy production rate. The bigger mean radius of the distorted star produces a smaller temperature gradient inside the star, resulting in a lower energy transport. The lower energy generation rate inside the distorted model will widen the main sequence and increase the stellar lifetime. Stellar temperature and luminosity of the distorted model are shifted toward lower value. The tidal distortion inside the secondary star plays a most important role in the rate of the apsidal motion because of lower compactness. The apsidal motion derived from rotation is larger than the one derived from the general relativity.

A high-performance fully-digital controller has been designed for the drive of a 50 kW 4-phase switched reluctance (SR) motor built for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). The SR machine is specifically designed and manufactured to have high power density and low acoustic noise. The controller is based on the advanced digital signal processor (DSP) with internal CAN interface-TMS320F2406 and complex programmable logic device (CPLD)-EPM7128S. The DSP mainly performs several tasks: A/D conversion, new control strategies such as directly average torque control and development of control algorithm, fully-digital hysteretic current-loop, generation electricity control and communication among all vehicle peripherals. The CPLD integrates all periphery logic circuit with responsibility for handling of position signal and intelligent over-current protect. High voltage, large capacity IGBT module and IGBT drive module with fibre-optic interface are adopted. A custom-made rotary position sensor has high reliability. The experimental results show that the controller is met with the system specification and requirement, satisfactorily.

In order to improve the performance of switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives, some advanced control strategies have been proposed, such as current or flux linkage profile control. To achieve these strategies the motor phase current or phase flux linkage should be controlled precisely. All these require increasing the switching frequency of converter to upgrade stability and dynamic response speed. However, the higher switching frequency may cause the higher switching losses, higher electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and the lower overall efficiency. The use of soft-switching techniques in converter can contribute to reduce them. In this paper a novel soft-switching converter for SRM is presented, which possesses advantages of resonant switch converter (RS), resonant DC link converter (RDCL) and PWM. The addition of external commutating devices to conventional asymmetric bridge converter for SRM substantially reduces switching losses and EMI. The conditions of soft switching are deduced and a practical design consideration is given. Finally, detailed simulation study of the complete system is presented and validated with experimental results

Due to the inherent advantages, such as simple structure, ability to operate in harsh environments, fault-tolerant and four-quadrant operation, and wide speed range with high power density and high efficiency, switched reluctance motor drives (SRD) becomes a strong competitor in electric vehicle application. In vehicle propulsion the vehicle control unit expects a precise and stationary average torque of the electric drive which tracks precisely the reference torque to perform vehicle dynamic control. In this paper, a novel control strategy is presented to achieve closed-loop torque control for SRD more accurately at varying load and changing electrical input condition. Additionally, a novel method for real-time measurement of flux linkage is presented, and simulation and experimental studies have been done. Finally, the feasibility of the torque control strategy is validated with performance test of the proposed system.

High reliability, wide speed range capability, as well as competitive weight and efficiency combine to make the switched reluctance machine (SRM) a strong candidate for electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) propulsion systems. A rated output power 50 kW, peak power 100 kW switched reluctance machine drive has been developed for a HEV passenger bus propulsion system. An improved 2-D finite element method (IFEM), in which the fringe flux at the ends of the core is counted, is introduced. In this paper the design of the SRM is described in detail. Specifications, IFEM analysis, simulation as well as experimental results are also presented.

Aiming at the nonlinear characteristics of a switched reluctance motor (SRM), this paper describes a sample method to estimate the parameters for a PI speed controller while the SRM works in current chop control (CCC) mode. Firstly, based on the linear and nonlinear mathematical model of SRM, some simple background is given. Then, the control schematic is built and some simulation work is done on the MATLAB system. With this simulation, we obtained the parameters for the PI speed controller. The parameters that are obtained from simulation work have been applied to a 50 kW SRD system. The experimental result indicates that it is feasible to use this method to estimate the parameters for SRM. It also shows that this method can greatly reduce the work of debugging and programming.