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Depression is characterized by low moods, anhedonia, and social avoidance. Effective and acceptable treatments are required for depression. Positive effects on mood have been observed in patients with depression after treatment with botulinum toxin A (BoNT/A).A total of 88 patients with depression were randomly assigned to BoNT/A (n = 56) and placebo (saline, n = 22) groups. The primary objective was to determine the change in the 17-item version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), 12 weeks after the treatments when compared with the baseline.The BoNT/A and placebo groups did not differ significantly in all the collected baseline characteristics. However, there was a significant improvement in the depressive symptoms of the BoNT/A group compared to those of the placebo group throughout the 12-week follow-up period. This was according to the measurements of HAMD (F (1, 370) = 9.094, P = 0.0027), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) (F (1, 370) = 11.26, P0.001), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) (F (1, 410) = 8.673, P = 0.0034) and Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) (F (1, 379) = 5.788, P = 0.017). Furthermore, the effectiveness was even higher at the end of the study period.The limitations include the absence of a multicenter study and an inadequate number of cases. Additionally, the mechanism of BoNT/A antidepression was not studied.This study showed that a single treatment with BoNT/A may accomplish a strong and sustained alleviation of depression in patients.

This paper deals with the sliding mode estimation for microgrid with time delays. Delay has a great impact on large power grids’ management for microgrid, which terribly reduces the stability and quality of microgrid. Random delay caused by load dependent congestion, constant transmission delay and constant delay in microgrid are considered in this paper. To eliminate the adverse effects of delays, a novel sliding mode estimation-based controller is designed to predict time delays and microgrid states, and to reject the disturbance of estimation errors. The mathematical inverter model containing electrical characteristics is regarded as the model of practical microgrid system. Delay estimation with learning parameter and state estimation are derived according to the inverter model. By regarding estimation errors as disturbance of sliding mode control (SMC), the control signal of SMC is adaptively changed in the sliding mode estimation-based control loop to ensure the stability of system and accuracy of estimation. Exponential reaching law (ERL) is implemented to improve the chattering issues and reaching performance of SMC. Lyapunov approach is exploited to analyze the stability of sliding motion. Finally, the proposed SMC strategy is validated by simulation experiments of a microgrid with time delays.

The novel model predictive control with feedback correction designed in this paper aims to optimize the energy dispatch and minimize the operation costs of a microgrid, which contributes to the improvement of pollution emissions and economic growth. The microgrid communication is based on power line communication, thus more accurate prediction models of photovoltaic and wind power generations of a networked microgrid can be designed from weather forecast information transmitted by power line communication. The prediction model for micro gas turbines and the loads of a microgrid are also proposed for optimization of the model predictive control. The rolling optimization model is updated by the latest forecast information to get minimization costs and optimal energy dispatch. The feedback correction designs predictions of generation and loads prediction errors to give an adjustment of the prediction model. Then the energy optimization dispatch will be updated by the adjusted prediction, so the most optimal dispatch will be obtained. Finally, the data of a microgrid in the Zhejiang province is applied in simulation and the minimization costs are compared with ideal costs to verify the performance and effectiveness of the proposed model predictive control strategy.

Microalgae are considered as an alternative feedstock for producing biodiesel. In this study, six oil-producing algae were cultivated with natural sunlight outdoors. The highest lipid content, biomass productivity, and lipid productivity were 29.99%, 208.42 mg/l/d, and 69.84 ml/d, respectively. In addition, the photosynthetic efficiency of PS II (Fv/Fm) was kept high during the cultivation and the preferred fatty acids (C16-C18) for producing biodiesel were more than 95% of total fatty acids for all of the strains.

The aim of this study was to characterize the quinolone resistance of Salmonella enterica serovar Indiana isolated from chickens in China. A total of 293 Salmonella strains were isolated from chicken farms and slaughterhouses in Shandong province of China, and 130 (44.4%) were characterized as Salmonella enterica Indiana (chicken farms, n = 52 strains; slaughter houses, n = 78 strains). All isolate serotypes were tested with the Kauffmann–White classification system and examined for susceptibility to the quinolones: nalidixic acid, enrofloxacin, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin. The resistance of the Salmonella Indiana strains to nalidixic acid, enrofloxacin, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin were 100, 73.1, 71.2, and 82.7%, and 100, 59.0, 79.5, and 80.2%, respectively. Selected quinolone resistant strains were evaluated for mutations in genes (gyr A, gyr B, par C, and mar A) by DNA sequencing. The gyr A mutation was found in all isolates, the par C mutation was only found in some isolates, and the gyr B and mar A mutations were not observed. Quinolone resistance was evaluated in the representative isolates by screening for the quinolone resistance determinants, qnr A, qnr B, qnr S, qep A, and aac (6 ′)-Ib-cr using PCR technology. The quinolone resistance determinants in Salmonella, qnr A, qnr B, qnr S, and qep A were negative by PCR, but aac(6 ′)-Ib-cr had high detection rates of 90.4 and 96.2% in chicken farms and slaughterhouses, respectively. Salmonella Indiana containing the gyr A mutation was prevalent in farms and slaughterhouses and possessed a high frequency of the quinolone resistance determinant aac(6 ′)-Ib-cr. These bacteria may have originated from the same source.

This paper proposes a sliding mode estimation-based control to solve the stochastic time delay problem in networked microgrid, because stochastic delay has a great impact on the stability and performance of large power grids (LPG). To analyze the delay effects, the microgrid system model is derived according to the characteristics of the inverter in grid-connected microgrid. Based on the microgrid system model, the stochastic delay estimation with learning parameter and delayed states are derived. The control signal designed by sliding mode control (SMC) and the learning parameter of delay estimation are adaptively changed in the sliding mode estimation-based control loop. Exponential reaching law (ERL) is proposed to solve the chattering issues of SMC. The 3.3 KW microgrid parameters are added into simulation to verify the effectiveness and performance of the proposed control strategy.

To evaluate therapeutic effectiveness and safety of botulinum toxin type A in the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia in patients older than 70 years.The total 64 patents were involved from neurology clinic and inpatient department from Aug 2008 to Sep 2013. They were divided into two groups according to the age (older than 70 years versus younger than 60 years. The therapeutic dose, safety, effectiveness were compared between two groups. Visual analog scores were employed to measure the degree of pain.The mean dosage was (88 ± 30) U in the group aged above 70 years old, and (72 ± 33) U in the group aged below 60 years old respectively. There was no significant difference of dosage between the two groups. The average visual analog score of all patients was (7.7 ± 2.2) before the treatment and decreased to (4.4 ± 2.9) one month after the treatment. To be precise, the average visual analog score of the group aged above 70 years old was (8.2 ± 1.9) before and (4.5 ± 3.2) after the treatment, and the visual analog score of the group aged below 60 years old was (7.2 ± 2.4) before and (4.4 ± 2.5) after the treatment. The effect of botulinum toxin type A in the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia was considered statistically significant. The D-value of visual analog score in the elderly group was (3.5 ± 3.6), and (2.8 ± 3.5) in the younger group. There was no significant difference in the D-value between the two groups. Five patients had transient minor side effects in the former group and two patients had transient minor side effects in latter group. There was no significant difference in the incidence rate of side effects between the two groups (P0.05).Botulinum toxin type A is safe and effective in the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia for the patients older than 70 years and the dosages of it are approximate to the patients under 60 years old.