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AIM:To evaluate the effect of optical amplification on macular retinal thickness measurements in myopic eyes of children and adolescents using optical coherence tomography(OCT).METHODS:A total of 68 cases(126 eyes)of children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years old attending our optometric center from April 2023 to January 2024 were selected. They were divided into 44 cases(83 eyes)in the mild myopia group(-0.50 D0.05). In the moderate myopia group, the differences between the retinal thickness in each quadrant of the macula and the mean retinal thickness before and after correction were statistically significant(all P0.05). There were significant differences between the two groups in the macular fovea, the nasal side of the inner ring, the temporal side of the inner ring, the upper inner ring, the lower inner ring, the nasal side of the outer ring, and the mean retinal thickness after correction(all P

Objective To investigate the advantages and disadvantages of purse-string suture, Hem-o-lok clip and double thread ligation in the treatment of appendiceal stump. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 237 acute appendicitis patients who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy at Nanjing Jiangbei Hospital from July 2021 to April 2023. According to the treatment, the patients were divided into purse-string suture group (n=48), Hem-o-lok clip group (n=152) and double thread ligation group (n=37). The baseline data, surgical time, intraoperative bleeding, length of hospital stay, total hospitalization costs, and incidence of postoperative complications among three different treatment methods were compared. Results There was no significant in operation time, blood loss, and hospital stay among three groups (P＞0.05). there was significant difference in total hospitalization cost among three groups (F=5.823, P=0.003), and that in double thread ligation group was (9 809.1±1 199.7) yuan, which was significantly lower than that in the purse-string suture group ［(10 355.0±1 133.7) yuan］ and Hem-o-lok clip group ［(10 541.6±1 179.3) yuan］ (P＜0.05). The incidence of complications in the purse string suture group was 2.1% (1/48), the Hem-o-lok clip group was 2.0% (3/152), and the double thread ligation group was 2.7% (1/37). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of complications among the three groups (P＞0.05). Conclusion The three methods to secure the appendiceal stump are safe and effective, but double thread ligation is cost-saving than purse-string suture and Hem-o-lok clip.

Abstract Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are common chronic diseases arising from progressive damage to the nervous system. Here, in-house natural product database screening revealed that libertellenone C (LC) obtained from the fermentation products of Arthrinium arundinis separated from the gut of a centipede collected in our Tongji campus, showed a remarkable neuroprotective effect. Further investigation was conducted to clarify the specific mechanism. LC dose-dependently reversed glutamate-induced decreased viability, accumulated reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial membrane potential loss, and apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells. Network pharmacology analysis predicted that the targets of LC were most likely directly related to oxidative stress and the regulation of inflammatory factor-associated signaling pathways. Further study demonstrated that LC attenuated nitrite, TNF-α, and IL-1β production and decreased inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase expression in lipopolysaccharide-induced BV-2 cells. LC could directly inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome activation by decreasing the expression levels of NLRP3, ASC, cleaved Caspase-1, and NF-κB p65. Our results provide a new understanding of how LC inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome in microglia, providing neuroprotection. These findings might guide the development of effective LC-based therapeutic strategies for NDs.

[Introduction] Under the current situation of increasing automation level of distribution network, in order to solve the problem that the influence of distribution automation is not considered in traditional distribution network power supply reliability assessment methods, in this paper, a method for rapid assessment of power supply reliability of urban distribution network is proposed, which takes into account the automatic partitioning of distribution network. [Method] In this paper, based on the node division method of path characteristics, by demarcating automatic partitioning of distribution network, defining large and small segments, a method for evaluating the effect of power supply reliability improvement that was suitable for automatic partitioning of distribution network was proposed. [Result] Compared with the industry standard for reliability evaluation of medium-voltage distribution network, the proposed method fully considers the influence of distribution automation on reducing fault location, isolation and switching operation time, and the evaluation result is reduced by about 22%. [Conclusion] The proposed method can more accurately analyze the power supply reliability of the distribution network with a higher level of distribution automation, and is suitable for urban distribution network areas with a small power outage time base.

Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS) comprises a group of disorders characterized by recurrent bouts of systemic inflammation related to overactivation of inflammasome. So far, neither large cases of the correlation between genotype and phenotype nor treatment strategies have been clearly stated in China. Here, we studied the clinical and genetic characteristics and their correlation from 30 CAPS patients in China. We identified the pathogenesis for novel mutations by activating NLRP3 inflammasome for peripheral cells with ATP plus LPS, compared characteristics with other case series, and analyzed treatment outcomes of these patients. The patients harbored 19 substitutions in NLRP3, and 8 of them were novel mutations. Among these novel mutations, percentages of severe musculoskeletal, ophthalmologic, and neurological symptoms were higher compared with other case serials. The correlation of phenotypes and their variants seemed different in our cases, such as T350M, S333G/I/R, and F311V (somatic mosaicism). Ten patients received Canakinumab treatment, which proved effective at alleviating musculoskeletal, neurological, auditory, visual manifestations, fever, and rash for 10–20 months follow-up. Patients treated with prednisolone or prednisolone plus thalidomide or methotrexate, tocilizumab, TNF inhibiting agents, and sirolimus achieved only partial remission. Importantly, we firstly identified somatic mosaicism mutation of F311V, which was severe. Our study extended the spectrum of genotype and phenotype and characteristics of their correlations and provided detailed responses to different treatment strategies. These data provide guidance for future diagnosis and management for CAPS.

Abstract A low‐power wideband self‐biased phase‐locked loop (SPLL) is proposed for multi‐protocol SerDes applications in this letter. With the proposed adaptive fast‐locking current circuit (AFLCC) and self‐biased charge pump (CP), the settling time is reduced significantly, and no extra power and jitter contribution. In addition, a start‐up module is adopted to reset the system to an optimal initial operating frequency quickly. The proposed 1‐3‐GHz SPLL, fabricated in TSMC 28‐nm CMOS process, occupies a compact 0.028 mm2 area. It achieves a roughly constant settling time of 5 μs over all frequencies and division ratios range. Only 0.96 mW is consumed at 1 GHz frequency.

The effective control over the vesicle formation pathways is vital for tuning its function. Recently, a liquid–liquid phase-separated intermediate (LLPS) is observed before a vesicular structure during the solvent exchange self-assembly of block copolymers. Though the understanding of polymer structures and chemical compositions on the competition between LLPS and micellization has made some progress, little is known about the role of cosolvent on it. In this study, the influence of cosolvent on the vesicle formation pathways is investigated by using dissipative particle dynamics. The results show that the range of water fraction within which the LLPS is favored will be highly dependent on the affinity difference of cosolvent to water and to polymer repeat units. The change of the cosolvent–water interaction and the water fraction impact the distribution of cosolvent in the polymer domain, the miscibility between the components in the system as well as the chain conformations, which finally induce different self-assembly behaviors. Our findings would be helpful for understanding the LLPS and controlling the morphologies of diblock polymers in solutions for further applications.

C21H20FN3O6S, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 7.8502(4) Å, b = 7.9892(4) Å, c = 34.9707(19) Å, β = 92.500(1)°, V = 2191.2(2) Å3, Z = 4, R gt(F) = 0.0502, wR ref(F 2) = 0.1361, T = 296(2) K.

C19H20NO2, monoclinic, P21 (no. 4), a = 6.6936(4) Å, b = 8.8892(6) Å, c = 13.2577(8) Å, β = 97.740(1)°, V = 781.66(8) Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0387, wRref(F2) = 0.0741, T = 296(2) K.

Porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) infection causes watery diarrhoea, vomiting, anorexia, and weight loss, especially among neonatal piglets, inflicting on them morbidity and mortality potentially reaching 90%–100%. Despite it being known that certain mammalian cell phases are arrested by PEDV, the mechanisms have not been elucidated, and PEDV pathogenesis is poorly understood. This study determined the effect of an epidemic PEDV strain on cell cycle progression.

Owing to the influence of continuous running of ground water, the uranium atoms can be separated physically from their daughters for the reason of different solubilities and the uranium deposit often shows the disequilibrium feature between uranium and its daughter products (radium principally). It is important, when spectral gamma ray logging, to quantify the uranium content which can cause inaccuracy of the result. This paper, based on spectral γ ray logging method, proposes a neutron-gamma logging method to determine the coefficient of uranium-radium disequilibrium. In this method, characteristic peak count rate of uranium is taken from prompt fission neutron logging, whereas characteristic peak count rate of radium, thorium and potassium are taken from spectral gamma ray logging. Based on this method, the union logging tool including epithermal neutron, thermal neutron, and gamma detector along with D-T generator, have been developed. The experimental results, in standard model wells, show that this method is in good agreement within 7% in core assay results. It shows that the union neutron-γ logging method can be used for field uranium logging jobs.

B cell receptors (BCR) capture antigen and initiate downstream antibody responses, but whether and how BCR signaling is regulated by BCR mobility is still unclear. Here the authors show, using single molecule imaging and machine learning analyses, that BCR and CD19 mobility is modulated by the actin nucleation regulators Arp2/3 and N-WASP to control BCR signaling.

In view of problems that existing mine positioning equipment embedded program upgrade method needs to establish physical connection and there’s no programmable wireless upgrade protocol for small embedded devices, a wireless software upgrade method for mine positioning equipments was proposed. The method adopts wireless broadcast transmission mode and one-to-many network mode to implement batch wireless IAP (In-Application Programming) upgrade of mine positioning device, thereby improving convenience and efficiency of upgrade. The experiment results show that the overall upgrade success rate of the method is positively correlated with distance, and the success rate is high within 10 m. The method provides an effective way for upgrading of a large number of mine positioning equipments.

Particle size distribution of radon progeny is one of the most important parameters and it needs to be measured accurately. Graded screen array measurement is the most frequently used method for analyzing the characteristics of radon progeny but it needs optimization due to its complex configuration. In this paper, collection efficiency of a single screen and the number of screen array were applied for optimization and simplification of the graded screen array configuration by a series of experimental measurements, theoretical calculations, and standard comparison research methods. When optimized in this way, an experiment was designed for radon progeny particle size distribution in a customized radon chamber. The experiment results indicated that the activity median diameter in unattached mode was 0.81 nm and 287.32 nm in attached mode, which were similar to the results obtained by other researchers. The results prove that the method can satisfy the requirements of graded screen array measurement.

A clock-induced-spurs detector, composed of a programmable low-pass filter (LPF), energy detector and spur detection algorithm, is presented and applied to a four-channel 1 gigabit-samples-per-second (GSPS) direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDS). The proposed detector realizes the detection of spurs based on energy-detection, and the spur detection algorithm is adopted to automatically extract the amplitude and phase of clock-induced spurs, generated by the intermodulation of harmonic spurs and multiple clocks. Finally, the extracted features are sent to auxiliary DDS to decrease the target spur, following which the detector can be turned off to save power. Additionally, the detected characteristics under different output conditions can be read out through the interface for rapid frequency switching. The proposed detector integrated into a DDS is fabricated with a 65 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process and has an area of 190 μm × 320 μm. The measured power consumption is roughly 38 mW, consuming 6% that of a single-channel DDS. The test results show that the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of this DDS can be successfully enhanced from −43.1 dBc to roughly −59.9 dBc without any off-chip instruments. This effectively proves that the detection accuracy of this detector can reach around −81 dBm.

C20H18F2N2, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 12.4233(11) Å, b = 7.3805(7) Å, c = 18.9531(16) Å, β = 104.109(3)°, V = 104.109(3) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0464, wRref(F2) = 0.1201, T = 296(2) K.

Portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (PXRF) is often used in the laboratory and the field because it is a portable, high-efficiency and non-destructive piece of equipment. PXRF can be used to obtain semi-quantitative/quantitative results of multiple elements in geological samples within two minutes. However, there are many factors that can affect the analytical results of geological samples by PXRF, including the surface state, sample heterogeneity, and the measurement time. In order to further understand the effect of sample types and analytical methods on the element contents, the study described here compares the analytical results of rocks by PXRF with those acquired by conventional laboratory analysis. Results of rocks and rock powder samples by PXRF were also compared, and the effect of different detection time on the results of rock powder samples by PXRF was also investigated. A method has been proposed which will reduce the exploration cost and improve work efficiency without a significant loss of analytical precision. The results shows that analytical results of most of the detectable elements is not reliable when analyzing rocks directly by PXRF, especially for the frequently used trace elements (Cu, Pb, Zn, As and Ni). However, PXRF can be used to analyze rock powders and the analytical result is acceptable. There is a difference between the correlation of various elements between rock and rock powder samples by PXRF. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the rock sample needs to be ground for sample preparation according to the target elements of interest in practical work. The detection time has no obvious effect on the elemental content results. Whether a specific element can be obtained in a relatively short time, further detection time is unnecessary.

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is a rare X-linked primary immunodeficiency characterized by recurrent infections, micro thrombocytopenia, eczema, and a high incidence of autoimmunity and malignancy. A defect in the T cell compartment is thought to be a major cause of immunodeficiency in patients with WAS; However, whether the antigen specific T memory cell is altered has not been extensively studied. Here, we examined the expansion/contraction kinetics of CD8+ memory T cells and their maintenance in WASp−/− mice. The results showed that WAS protein (WASp) is not required for differentiation of CD8+ effector T cells; however, CD8+ T cells from WASp−/− mice were hyperactive, resulting in increased cytokine production. The number of CD8+ T memory cells decreased as mice aged, and CD8+ T cell recall responses and protective immunity were impaired. WASp-deficient CD8+ T cells in bone marrow chimeric mice underwent clonal expansion, but the resulting effector cells failed to survive and differentiate into CD8+ memory T cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that WASp plays an intrinsic role in differentiation of CD8+ memory T cells.

The connected dominating set (CDS) has become a well-known approach for constructing a virtual backbone in wireless sensor networks. Then traffic can forwarded by the virtual backbone and other nodes turn off their radios to save energy. Furthermore, a smaller CDS incurs fewer interference problems. However, constructing a minimum CDS is an NP-hard problem, and thus most researchers concentrate on how to derive approximate algorithms. In this paper, a novel algorithm based on the induced tree of the crossed cube (ITCC) is presented. The ITCC is to find a maximal independent set (MIS), which is based on building an induced tree of the crossed cube network, and then to connect the MIS nodes to form a CDS. The priority of an induced tree is determined according to a new parameter, the degree of the node in the square of a graph. This paper presents the proof that the ITCC generates a CDS with a lower approximation ratio. Furthermore, it is proved that the cardinality of the induced trees is a Fibonacci sequence, and an upper bound to the number of the dominating set is established. The simulations show that the algorithm provides the smallest CDS size compared with some other traditional algorithms.