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Pectus excavatum is not rare in China. Many treatments for this disease have proved to have many shortcomings. Nuss procedure has been a ground-breaking technology, but it also has some disadvantages. Hence, this study was conducted to review our experience in the use of modified Nuss procedure in our hospital.Data from 259 patients suffered from pectus excavatum between August 2020 and August 2021 who were treated with modified Nuss procedure was analyzed retrospectively.Age was from 3 to 37 years. The average was 15.54 years. The male was 213 cases and the female was 46 cases. The time patients or their family members found pectus excavatum varied. 10 cases had been repaired previously when patients were admitted in our hospital. The clinical symptoms also varied. Each case had an improvement in Haller index. The average of the postoperative hospitalization was 3.97 days. Most cases were inserted 1 bar. Complication rate was also very low. All patients or their parents or their guardians were satisfied with the appearance of the chest wall after operation. There was no death in the whole observation period.From our experience, this modified Nuss procedure have obtained optimistic outcomes with more minimal invasion and low complication rate. This surgical method may be applied to many other hospitals in the future. more...

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a highly prevalent musculoskeletal disorder characterized by degeneration of cartilage and abnormal remodeling of subchondral bone (SCB). Teriparatide (PTH (1-34)) is an effective anabolic drug for osteoporosis (OP) and regulates osteoprotegerin (OPG)/receptor activator of nuclear factor ligand (RANKL)/RANK signaling, which also has a therapeutic effect on KOA by ameliorating cartilage degradation and inhibiting aberrant remodeling of SCB. However, the mechanisms of PTH (1-34) in treating KOA are still uncertain and remain to be explored. Therefore, we compared the effect of PTH (1-34) on the post-traumatic KOA mouse model to explore the potential therapeutic effect and mechanisms.Compared with the WT-sham mice, significant wear of cartilage in terms of reduced cartilage thickness and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) loss was detected in the WT-DMM mice. PTH (1-34) exhibited cartilage-protective by alleviating wear, retaining the thickness and GAG contents. Moreover, the deterioration of the SCB was alleviated and the expression of PTH1R/OPG/RANKL/RANK were found to increase after PTH (1-34) treatment. Among the OPGBoth wear of the cartilage was alleviated and aberrant remodeling of the SCB was inhibited in the WT mice, but only the cartilage-protective effect was observed in the OPGSystemic administration of PTH (1-34) could exert a therapeutic effect on both cartilage and SCB in different mechanisms to alleviate KOA progression, which might be a novel therapy for KOA. more...

Eimeria tenella (E. tenella) is a protozoal parasite that can cause severe cecal lesions and death in chickens, seriously harming the chicken industry. Conventional control strategies mainly rely on anticoccidial drugs. However, the emerging problems of anticoccidial resistance and drug residues necessitate exploring potential drug targets for developing new anticoccidial drugs. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (ALD) is an essential enzyme for parasite energy metabolism that has been considered a potential drug target. In this study, we analyzed the molecular and biochemical properties of E. tenella ALD2 (EtALD2). EtALD2 mRNA expression was highest in second-generation merozoites, whereas the protein level was highest in unsporulated oocysts. Indirect immunofluorescence showed that EtALD2 was mainly distributed in sporozoite' cytoplasm. The natural product inhibitor (morin) was screened by computer-aided drug screening. Enzyme kinetic and inhibition kinetic assays showed that morin had a good inhibitory effect on EtALD2 activity (IC more...

In order to achieve high-precision stability evaluation and time-domain simulation of AC/DC distribution systems, and improve the analysis efficiency of complex systems, an average dynamic phasor modeling method of AC/DC distribution systems was proposed with considering the current reconstruction of dual-active bridge (DAB) high frequency transformer and the error correction of phase shifting duty cycle. Based on the average dynamic phasor model of voltage source converters (VSCs) and DABs established, the equivalent phase shift duty cycle of DAB was used as a modified algebraic variable to reduce the deviation caused by ignoring high-order dynamic phasors in modeling process and Fourier series are used to reconstruct the winding current of the high frequency transformer, respectively, to realize the accurate characterization of the DC and AC variables in average dynamic phasor models. Then an expandable global model of AC/DC distribution systems has been established by introducing the distribution line equations. Finally, according to the time-domain simulation based on MATLAB/Simulink software, the influence of model stability when the operating frequency and the leakage inductance of high frequency transformer changes was analyzed, and the correctness and accuracy of the proposed average dynamic phasor model was verified under the two scenarios of load mutation and disconnection fault. more...

Experimental investigation has been performed to study the leakage and wear characteristics of carbon seal working at high circumferential speed. To expand the scope of application, two newly designed carbon seals were compared: #1 Carbon Seal (CS1) with the inner diameter of 136 mm and including 4 segments, #2 Carbon Seal (CS2) with the inner diameter of 212 mm and including 6 segments. Air leakage tests were firstly conducted in the Medium-speed Seal Test Rig. The pressure ratio changed from 1.04 to 2.02 with the rotating speed varying from 0 to 18300 r/min. Of paramount concern was the durability test, including 300 h running time accumulated by three different working conditions, which was separately implemented on each carbon seal. The morphology variation of the friction surface, wear and leakage were recorded. Results indicated that the leakage monotonously increases with the pressure ratio and decreases with the rotating speed. Comparing with CS1, more typical features exist on the friction surface of CS2, which are generated by more severe wear. Continually, leakage characteristics deteriorate. Furthermore, fitted formula has been educed for the life prediction of carbon seal, which could provide some supports for aero-engine design. more...

Ultra-deep desulfurization of transformer oil is of great demand among power industry. In this work, the effective and deep removal of various types of organosulfurs, including mercaptan, sulfide and disulfide via catalytic adsorptive desulfurization (CADS) using bifunctional Ti-based adsorbent is reported. Compared to adsorptive desulfurization (ADS), dramatically improvement of the organosulfur uptakes were achieved under CADS process. The equilibrium adsorption capacity at 5 μg∙g−1-S reached up to 15.7, 33.4, 11.6 and 11.9 mg∙g−1 for propyl mercaptan(n-PM), dimethyl sulfide(DMS), di-t-butyl disulfide (DTBDS) and dibenzyl disulfide (DBDS), which was 262, 477, 97 and 128 times to that of ADS process, respectively, and was the highest among the reported desulfurization adsorbents. Moreover, it achieved superior breakthrough capacity of 2050, 530 and 210 ml-F·g-A−1 at the breakthrough concentration of 1μg∙g−1-S of the commercial transformer oil containing 10, 50 and 150 μg∙g−1-S, respectively. The effectiveness of CADS is associated to the transformation of sulfur species to higher polar sulfonic species with the assistance of mild oxidant, which can be readily captured by silanol groups on SiO2 through H-bonding interaction. The excellent recyclability of the adsorbent can be realized through solvent washing or oxidative air treatment. This work provides an effective and economic approach for the elimination of trace amount of mercaptan, sulfide and disulfide from transformer oil. more...

The Yinchuan Basin, one of the most important basins in the area adjacent to the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, contains a continuous sequence of fluvio-lacustrine deposits, which makes it an ideal area to study the interactions between the Tibetan Plateau uplift, climate change, and geomorphological evolution. Here, a 1200-m-deep drill core (YNZK01) is described with an average recovery rate of 96% in the depo-center of the Yinchuan Basin to establish a high-resolution palaeoenvironmental and tectonic reconstruction. Stepwise alternating-field demagnetization results showed a stable and high-qualified remanent magnetization of the samples. The polarity sequences consisted of 8 normal and 8 reverse zones that correlate well with the geomagnetic polarity timescale. Magnetostratigraphic results date the entire YNZK01 core from 3.927 Ma to the present. The B/M boundary (0.781 Ma) is at a depth of 246.4 m while the M/G boundary (2.581 Ma) is at a depth of 863.4 m. The G/Gi boundary (3.596 Ma) is identified at 1117.8 m and the bottom of the core was extrapolated to 3.927 Ma (1201 m) with an average sedimentation rate of 863.4–1117.8 m. This high-resolution magnetostratigraphy record provides a baseline chronological framework for further research and publications on the tectonic, paleoclimatic, and paleoenvironmental proxy data of the YNZK01 core in the Yinchuan Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau. more...

Both problem characteristics in multimodality and multi-objective are involved in multimodal multi-objective optimization problems (MMOPs). How to locate diverse Pareto sets and approximate Pareto front simultaneously is a challenging research topic. To address this issue, a cluster-based immune-inspired algorithm using manifold learning is proposed in this paper for solving MMOPs. First of all, the population is partitioned into multiple subpopulations, and each of them is expected to find equivalent Pareto solutions in different regions. Subsequently, the immune-inspired algorithm with proportional cloning and hypermutation is developed for improving the diversity of the population and obtaining high-quality Pareto solutions in the decision space. Additionally, principal component analysis is adopted to learn the manifold of the Pareto set, further improve the convergence, and enhance interaction among subpopulations. The proposed algorithm is compared with six state-of-the-art algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is capable of locating equivalent Pareto optimal solutions in the decision space and maintaining the diversity and convergence of solutions in both decision space and objective space, simultaneously. more...

With the large-scale grid connection of wind and photovoltaic power, the contradiction between renewable energy and thermal power is becoming more and more serious. To solve this problem, this paper comprehensively considers the construction and operation costs of power plants, and constructs an optimal generation expansion planning model of a combined thermal–wind–photovoltaic​ power system with the objective of minimizing total cost. The planning is calculated under the boundary conditions of ensuring the safe operation of the power grid and taking into account the share requirement, utilization requirements and construction requirements for renewable energy. The model is applied to the self-use and supporting power plants in Xinjiang. The results show that the proposed generation expansion plan can realize the coordinated development of three types of power sources under multiple boundary conditions, which has good applicability. more...

Multimodal multi-objective optimization problems (MMOPs) involve locating equivalent Pareto optimal solutions in decision space with the same objective values. The key to handling MMOPs is finding all equivalent Pareto optimal solutions and maintaining a promising balance between the convergence and diversity of solutions in both decision space and objective space. To tackle this issue, a self-organizing quantum-inspired particle swarm optimization algorithm (MMO_SO_QPSO) is proposed in this paper for handling MMOPs. In the proposed MMO_SO_QPSO, a self-organizing map is used to find the best neighbor leader of particles. With the aid of neighbor leader particles, a special zone searching method is adopted to update the position of particles and locate equivalent Pareto optimal solutions in decision space. To maintain diversity and convergence of Pareto optimal solutions, a special archive mechanism that relies on the maximum-minimum distance among solutions is introduced into MMO_SO_QPSO. And some outstanding Pareto optimal solutions are maintained in the special archive. In addition, a new performance indicator is developed to estimate properly the similarity between obtained Pareto optimal solutions and true Pareto optimal solutions. The performance of the proposed MMO_SO_QPSO is compared with six state-of-the-art multimodal multi-objective evolutionary algorithms on two well-known benchmark problems. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of MMO_SO_QPSO for solving MMOPs. The effectiveness of several strategies is also discussed. more...

Biomorphic wood-derived titanium carbides produced using physical vapor infiltration-reaction synthesis (PVI-R) with a homemade setup were reported for the first time. Effects of the temperature (1700–2100 °C) and duration time (15–90min) on the microstructures (i.e. weight gain, infiltration depth and surface condition) of titanium carbides were investigated in details during the PVI-R process. The lower temperature (1700 °C) contributed to retain the pore structure of wood, while the increased temperatures (1800–2100 °C) induced the TiC coating to block the pores on the surface of sample, resulting in preventing the infiltration of Ti gas. The increased duration time from 15 to 90 min at 1700 °C contributed to the infiltration of Ti gas into the sample, by moderately increasing the TiC depth from 814 to 905 μm. The mechanism of forming TiC in the wood-derived biocarbon structure during PVI-R process was proposed and discussed. more...

This study characterized a single-stranded circular DNA virus in Botrytis cinerea—namely, Botrytis cinerea genomovirus 1 (BcGV1). The genome of BcGV1 was 1710 nucleotides (nts) long, possessing two ORFs, encoding a putative replication initiation protein (Rep) and a hypothetical protein. The Rep contained seven conserved motifs. The two ORFs were separated by two intergenic regions; the large intergenic region (LIR) contained 259 nts while the small intergenic region (SIR) contained 95 nts. A nonanucleotide, TAACAGTAC, in the LIR was predicted to be associated with the initiation of viral replication. Based on the phylogenetic tree constructed by Reps, BcGV1 belongs to the family Genomoviridae, forming an independent branch, indicating that BcGV1 may belong to a new genus. BcGV1 could be detected in 6.7% of tested B. cinerea strains, suggesting that BcGV1 may be widely distributed in the Chinese B. cinerea population. more...

Wind power has received extensive attention due to its superiorities of clean and pollution-free. However, because of the randomness and volatility of wind power, accurate power prediction is needed to help its consumption. Wind speed is the key to wind power prediction, but traditional prediction method cannot accurately grasp the wind speed variation trend and the traditional wind process partition method has some defects, an ultra-short- term wind speed hybrid prediction method based on wind process pattern forecasting is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a wind process (WP) division method considering the influence of wind speed on the operation state, mode switch and output power of wind turbine is proposed. Secondly, according to the operating characteristics of the wind turbine, all the WPs is classified into different wind process patterns (WPP), and the effectiveness of the classification is verified. Then, the Adaboost algorithm is used to forecast the WPP of the next 4 h. Finally, the wind speed hybrid prediction model of each pattern is established, the corresponding model is automatically selected based on WPP to predict the wind speed. Simulation results show that the proposed model can reliably forecast future WPP and the prediction accuracy is better than conventional models. more...