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ABSTRACTBackgroundAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. Observational studies have found an association between plant food intake and AD. However, it is unclear whether this association is influenced by confounding factors. We aimed to explore the causal relationship between plant-based diet and the risk of AD using two-sample Mendelian randomization.Materials and MethodsWe obtained datasets of exposure from the IEU Open GWAS project, including dried fruit intake, fresh fruit intake, raw vegetable intake, cooked vegetable intake, and cereal intake. The summary data for AD were obtained from a large GWAS meta-analysis containing 71,880 cases and 383,378 controls.ResultsIncreased intake of dried fruits was associated with a reduced risk of AD (IVW: OR = 0.88, 95CI = 0.82–0.95). No causal association was found between the intake of other foods and AD.ConclusionThis MR study suggests that genetically predicted increased intake of dried fruits is a causal protective factor for AD.

Numerous research works have investigated the association between tea consumption and the risk of acute cerebrovascular events; however, the results are inconsistent.

Cryogenic loop heat pipes are highly efficient heat transfer devices at cryogenic temperature range, which have promising application prospects in satellites, spacecrafts, electronics, and so on. Cooling down process is a most critical process for a CLHP before startup. At present, secondary loop is a major way for a CLHP to fulfil cooling down and most studies are concentrated on heat transfer characteristics during normal operation. However, few investigations have been carried out on the cooling down process. In this paper, the cooling down process of a nitrogen-charged CLHP assisted with a secondary loop was experimentally investigated. A simple qualitative approach to estimate the cooling down time was proposed according to the law of conservation of energy. The two flow paths of the working fluid in the CLHP during the cooling down process were described. Experimental studies on the cooling down process with various secondary heat loads and working fluid inventory were presented in detail. With the increase of secondary heat load, the elapsed time of Stage III decreased significantly due to the larger mass flow rate in Path I. In addition, the effect of the working fluid inventory on the cooling down time was generally small in the range from 2.99 MPa to 3.80 MPa. However, with 2.80 MPa working fluid inventory, it required much longer cooling down time, which was because of the lack of liquid in the CLHP with low working fluid inventory. Moreover, the influence of gravity on the temperature variation of the components during the experiments was analyzed. This work is beneficial for better understanding of the cooling down process and optimizing of CLHPs.

Loop heat pipes (LHPs) are attractive two-phase thermal control devices for satellites, electronics and many other applications. They are capable of transporting heat efficiently for long distances up to several meters at any orientation. This paper investigated the heat transfer characteristics of loop heat pipes with long distances and small diameter transport lines. Small stainless steel tubes of 2 mm and 3 mm in inner diameters were chosen as liquid lines and vapor lines of the LHPs. The local thermal resistances in the evaporator of the 6 m-LHP were researched and analyzed, which indicated that the thermal resistance between the aluminum block and the vapor in the vapor channel accounted for a major proportion of the total thermal resistance. The effect of heat sink temperatures on the performance of the 6 m-LHP were compared with 10°C, 15°C, 20°C and 25°C cooling water temperatures. Moreover, the thermal characteristics of LHPs with transport distances of 2 m and 16 m were also experimentally investigated. The 16 m-LHP could achieve a heat transfer capacity of 100 W and the 2 m-LHP could reach more than 339 W, on the premise of the evaporator temperature below 100°C. The thermal resistance of the 2 m-LHP could achieve 0.125°C/W.

An effective J-T component is crucial for the operation of dilution refrigerator due to its function as a 3He liquefier in a refrigeration cycle. This paper briefly introduces the principle of the J-T component in dry dilution refrigerator, studies the influence of J-T component on the still and its design method. An effective J-T component is designed to cool over 3 K of 3He gas to almost 1 K of 3He liquid. The basic still temperature is below 0.5 K in a dilution refrigerator prototype. In this prototype, a two-stage step heat exchanger was adopted to obtain the lowest temperature below 26 mK.

As an excellent paramagnetic material with low Curie temperature, Chromium Potassium Alum (CPA) is commonly used in the adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) to achieve extremely low temperatures. A typical ADR consists of many components, such as a salt pill, a superconducting magnet, a heat switch, etc. An experimental system was built to test the performance of a single-stage ADR we designed. A two-stage GM refrigerator was used to provide ADR with a low-temperature environment of less than 4 K. A superfluid helium bath was connected to the ADR, via a mechanical heat switch. In the experiment, the CPA salt pill can be pre-cooled to 1.35 K by the superfluid helium bath. A superconductor power supply is used to magnetize and demagnetize the crystal. After applying a 1 T magnetic field, the single-stage ADR can obtain a minimum temperature of 318.5 mK.

A high-efficiency, single-stage coaxial pulse tube cryocooler has been developed for the purpose of operating at approximately 35 K, specifically targeting long-wavelength infrared detectors. The present study outlines the design considerations and discusses the optimizations made to the length of the regenerator. By conducting experimental investigations, the prototype of the cooler has successfully achieved a no-load temperature of 24 K. This was accomplished by incorporating an inertance tube and reservoir as the phase-shifter. By incorporating the double-inlet into the phase-shifter, it is possible to attain a lower temperature of 21 K. At present, the current cooler prototype demonstrates a cooling capacity of 2 W at 35 K with an input power of 200 W at a frequency of 37 Hz. Additionally, a comprehensive presentation of the key parameters and performance of the designed PTC is provided.

Compared with hormone therapy, TCM had the advantages of overall adjustment and less side effects in the treatment of menopausal syndrome. But due to the complex pharmacodynamic composition of Guizhi decoction (GZD), the mechanism of TCM treating diseases was not clear. Network pharmacology could analyze drug action pathways through multi-pathway and multi-target, which provide a new direction for TCM mechanism research. The common targets of GZD and menopausal syndrome (MPS) were obtained by TCMSP and DisGeNET databases. And for the common targets, protein-protein interaction networks were established using the STRING database and analyzed by Gene Ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. (Our research does not require ethical approval). One hundred forty-six active ingredients with 283 targets were obtained from GZD by network pharmacological analysis. Besides, 230 target genes were found to have interactions with MPS, 52 of which were common targets between MPS and GZD and were predicted to be potential targets for MPS treatment of GZD. GO enrichment analysis revealed that GZD could affect 51 biological processes, 15 cellular components, and 13 molecular functions. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis yielded a total of 223. The pathways that are closely related to the pathogenesis of MPS are MAPK, PI3K-Akt. In this study, the relevant targets and mechanisms of GZD in the treatment of MPS were discussed from the perspective of network pharmacological analysis, reflecting the characteristics of multi-component, multi-target and multiple pathways, and it provides a good theoretical basis for the clinical application of GZD.

Along with the development of space science and technology, miniature liquid helium temperature long life cryocooler is a focus subject in cryogenic study. Since it is the precondition of space detection researches, institutions of space in many countries do the research on it. In this article, we designed a compound cooling system. A three-stage high frequency thermal coupled pulse tube cryocooler was used to precool a Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler. This system has no moving parts at low temperatures and is hence suitable for space operation. Liquid helium temperature was successfully achieved in both open loop and closed cycle experiments. In the closed cycle experiment, when 473 W electric power was inputted, the cooling system reached a no-load temperature of 4.4 K, and a cooling capacity of 11.6 mW was provided at 4.54 K. It is the first miniature liquid helium temperature JT cryocooler in China and the research achievement paves a way for the space application of ultra- long wave infrared detection and THz technologies.

To observe the clinical efficacy and safety of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) combined with Western Medicine (WM) in patients with diabetic acute ischemic stroke.

Key Laboratory of Space Energy Conversion Technologies of TIPC, CAS has developed a 4.5K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler precooled by a multistage pulse tube cooler. In this paper, series of experimental research is carried out to explore the performance of the JT cooler at different operating conditions. When only the power consumption of JT compressors is considered, the coefficient of performance (COP) of the JT cycle is proposed to evaluate the performance of JT cycle. Experimental research is carried out to investigate the influence of supply pressure and JT orifice on cooling capacity and especially the COP of JT cooler. Experimental results suggest that cooling power of JT cooler increases as supply pressure increases and higher COP are gained because of rising flow resistance of JT orifice. Then JT orifices of different diameters are experimentally studied to explore the effect of flow resistance of JT orifice on the performance of JT cooler.