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Micron-sized Si anode promises a much higher theoretical capacity than the traditional graphite anode and more attractive application prospect compared to its nanoscale counterpart. However, its severe volume expansion during lithiation requires solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) with reinforced mechanical stability. Here, we propose a solvent-induced selective dissolution strategy to in situ regulate the mechanical properties of SEI. By introducing a high-donor-number solvent, gamma-butyrolactone, into conventional electrolytes, low-modulus components of the SEI, such as Li alkyl carbonates, can be selectively dissolved upon cycling, leaving a robust SEI mainly consisting of lithium fluoride and polycarbonates. With this strategy, raw micron-sized Si anode retains 87.5% capacity after 100 cycles at 0.5 C (1500 mA g−1, 25°C), which can be improved to >300 cycles with carbon-coated micron-sized Si anode. Furthermore, the Si||LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 battery using the raw micron-sized Si anode with the selectively dissolved SEI retains 83.7% capacity after 150 cycles at 0.5 C (90 mA g−1). The selective dissolution effect for tailoring the SEI, as well as the corresponding cycling life of the Si anodes, is positively related to the donor number of the solvents, which highlights designing high-donor-number electrolytes as a guideline to tailor the SEI for stabilizing volume-changing alloying-type anodes in high-energy rechargeable batteries. The severe volume expansion during the lithiation of micron-sized Si in Li-ion batteries requires a solid electrolyte interphase with reinforced mechanical stability. Here, the authors propose a solvent-induced selective dissolution strategy to regulate the mechanical properties of the interphase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional approach to investigating functional connectivity in the block-designed study usually concatenates task blocks or employs residuals of task activation. While providing many insights into brain functions, the block design adds more manipulation in functional network analysis that may reduce the purity of the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal. Recent studies utilized one single long run for task trials of the same condition, the so-called continuous design, to investigate functional connectivity based on task functional magnetic resonance imaging. Continuous brain activities associated with the single-task condition can be directly utilized for task-related functional connectivity assessment, which has been examined for working memory, sensory, motor, and semantic task experiments in previous research. But it remains unclear how the block and continuous design influence the assessment of task-related functional connectivity networks. This study aimed to disentangle the separable effects of block/continuous design and working memory load on task-related functional connectivity networks, by using repeated-measures analysis of variance. Across 50 young healthy adults, behavioral results of accuracy and reaction time showed a significant main effect of design as well as interaction between design and load. Imaging results revealed that the cingulo-opercular, fronto-parietal, and default model networks were associated with not only task activation, but significant main effects of design and load as well as their interaction on intra- and inter-network functional connectivity and global network topology. Moreover, a significant behavior-brain association was identified for the continuous design. This work has extended the evidence that continuous design can be used to study task-related functional connectivity and subtle brain-behavioral relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatially remote brain regions show synchronized activity as typically revealed by correlated functional MRI (fMRI) signals. An emerging line of research has focused on the temporal fluctuations of connectivity; however, its relationships with stationary connectivity have not been clearly illustrated. We examined dynamic and stationary connectivity when the participants watched four different movie clips. We calculated point-by-point multiplication between two regional time series to estimate the time-resolved dynamic connectivity, and estimated the inter-individual consistency of the dynamic connectivity time series. Widespread consistent dynamic connectivity was observed for each movie clip, which also showed differences between the clips. For example, a cartoon movie clip, Wall-E, showed more consistent of dynamic connectivity with the posterior cingulate cortex and supramarginal gyrus, while a court drama clip, A Few Good Men, showed more consistent of dynamic connectivity with the auditory cortex and temporoparietal junction, which might suggest the involvement of specific brain processing for different movie contents. In contrast, the stationary connectivity as measured by the correlations between regional time series was highly similar among the movie clips, and showed fewer statistically significant differences. The patterns of consistent dynamic connectivity could be used to classify different movie clips with higher accuracy than the stationary connectivity and regional activity. These results support the functional significance of dynamic connectivity in reflecting functional brain changes, which could provide more functionally relevant information than stationary connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the role of exosomal circRNAs in the occurrence and development of sepsis, we looked for potential diagnostic markers to accurately identify sepsis and to lay a molecular basis for precise treatment. Ultracentrifugation was used to extract exosomes from the serum of patients with sepsis and healthy individuals. Then, changes in circRNA expression in exosomes were studied by circRNA microarray analysis. Gene ontology (GO) analysis and Kyoto City Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were used to annotate the biological functions and pathways of genes, and a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network was constructed. In the microarray analysis, 132 circRNAs were significantly differentially expressed, including 80 and 52 that were upregulated and downregulated, respectively. RT-qPCR verified the results of microarray analysis: hsa_circRNA_104484 and hsa_circRNA_104670 were upregulated in sepsis serum exosomes. ROC analysis showed that hsa_circRNA_104484 and hsa_circRNA_104670 in serum exosomes have the potential to be used as diagnostic markers for sepsis. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network predicted the potential regulatory pathways of differentially expressed circRNAs. There are differences in the expression of circRNA in serum exosomes between patients with sepsis and healthy individuals, which may be involved in the occurrence and development of the disease. Among them, elevations in hsa_circRNA_104484 and hsa_circRNA_104670 could be used as novel diagnostic biomarkers and molecular therapeutic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel β-cyclodextrin derivative chemically bonded chiral stationary phase (EDACD) was synthesized by the reaction of mono-6-ethylenediamine-β-cyclodextrin with the active alkyl isocyanate, anchoring to silica gel. After the successful analysis and characterization using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, elemental analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis techniques, the enantioselective performance of the as-prepared EDACD column was evaluated by non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs and flavonoids under the reversed-phase HPLC condition. The factors that affected enantioseparation including mobile phase compositions and buffers were investigated in more detail. As a result, EDACD showed a satisfactory enantioselectivity for the tested drugs. With the mobile phase of acetonitrile and 20-mM ammonium formate adjusted to pH 4.0 using formic acid (85:15, v/v) at the flow rate of 0.6 mL min−1, the enantiomers of ibuprofen, carprofen, naproxen, indoprofen, ketoprofen, eriocitrin, naringin, and narirutin were separated with the best resolutions of 1.53, 1.64, 3.72, 2.40, 0.50, 0.61, 0.58, and 0.52. To adjust the proportion of acetonitrile to 80% (by volume), the enantiomers of pranoprofen and flurbiprofen were completely resolved with the best resolutions of 1.60 and 1.59. Additionally, by the study of the molecular docking, hydrogen bonding and inclusion complexation were believed to play an important role in chiral recognition. As a new material, EDACD will have a wider application in the analysis of chiral compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) was proposed 20 years ago for study of task modulated connectivity on functional MRI (fMRI) data. A few modifications have since been made, but there remain misunderstandings on the method, as well as on its relations to a similar method named beta series correlation (BSC). Here, we explain what PPI measures and its relations to BSC. We first clarify that the interpretation of a regressor in a general linear model depends on not only itself but also on how other effects are modeled. In terms of PPI, it always reflects differences in connectivity between conditions, when the physiological variable is included as a covariate. Secondly, when there are multiple conditions, we explain how PPI models calculated from direct contrast between conditions could generate identical results as contrasting separate PPIs of each condition (a.k.a. "generalized" PPI). Thirdly, we explicit the deconvolution process that is used for PPI calculation, and how is it related to the trial-by-trial modeling for BSC, and illustrate the relations between PPI and those based upon BSC. In particular, when context sensitive changes in effective connectivity are present, they manifest as changes in correlations of observed trial-by-trial activations or functional connectivity. Therefore, BSC and PPI can detect similar connectivity differences. Lastly, we report empirical analyses using PPI and BSC on fMRI data of an event-related stop signal task to illustrate our points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia subjects have shown deficits of inhibition in conditions such as a stop signal task. The stop signal response time (SSRT) is consistently longer compared with healthy controls, and is accompanied by decreased brain activations in the right inferior frontal gyrus. However, as to how the response inhibition function is supported by distributed brain networks, and whether such networks are altered in schizophrenia are largely unknown. We analyzed functional MRI data of a stop signal task from 44 schizophrenia patients and 44 matched controls, and performed whole-brain psychophysiological interaction analysis to obtain task-modulated connectivity (TMC). Support vector classification was used to classify schizophrenia, and support vector regression was applied to explore the relationships between TMC and behavior indexes, such as SSRT. Schizophrenia group showed a decreased TMC pattern which mainly involved the fronto-parietal network, and increased TMC related to the sensorimotor network. Moreover, TMC could only successfully predict SSRT in the control group, further suggesting an abnormal task modulation in schizophrenia. Lastly, we compared the classification and prediction results from different types of measures, i.e., TMC, task-independent connectivity (TIC), task-functional connectivity (TFC), and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC). TMC performed better in the behavior predictions, while TIC performed better in the classification. TFC and RSFC had similar classification and prediction performance as TIC. The current results provide new insights into the altered brain functional integration underlying response inhibition in schizophrenia, and suggest that different types of connectivity measures are complementary for a better understanding of brain networks and their alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and efficient method combining solid-phase extraction (SPE) with homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction (HLLME) has been developed for fast pretreatment of chloramphenicol (CAP) from water samples prior to determination by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection. Oasis HLB sorbent was chosen for SPE. In HLLME, N,N-dimethylcyclohexylamine was used as a CO2-triggered switchable solvent that could switch reversibly between hydrophilic and hydrophobic forms. The parameters influencing both SPE and HLLME were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the method exhibited low limit of detection (0.1 ng/mL), good linearity (0.5-50 ng/mL), acceptable precision (RSD <5.0%) and accuracy (RE <4.0%). An enrichment factor of 340 was obtained. The proposed method is simple, fast, cost-effective, and suitable for the determination of trace chloramphenicol in water matrices.ᅟ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to develop a thermosensitive in situ gel based on solid dispersions (SDs) for rectal delivery of ibuprofen (IBU). Thermosensitive (poloxamer 407) and mucoadhesive (hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose E5 and sodium alginate) polymers were used to prepare the in situ gel and the sol-gel transition temperature ( T ) and gel strength were optimized. The in vitro release performance and in vivo pharmacokinetic properties of the in situ gel after their rectal administration to rabbits were investigated. Compared with the solid suppository, the cumulative release of the IBU SDs loaded in situ gel was significantly increased. The in vivo pharmacokinetics indicated that in situ gel had a higher peak plasma concentration ( C ) and area under the curve (AUC) in plasma than the solid suppositories. Histopathology results showed that the IBU in situ gel given at a dose of 15 mg/kg did not produce any irritation. In conclusion, this study suggested that the in situ gel could be an effective rectal formulation for IBU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the current rapid economic growth, demands for energy are progressively increasing. Energy shortages have attracted significant attention due to the shrinking availability of non-renewable resources. Therefore, thermal energy storage is one of the solutions that lead to saving of fossil fuels and make systems more cost-effective by the storage of wasted thermal energy. In particular, the application of phase change materials (PCMs) is considered as an effective and efficient approach to thermal energy storage because of the high latent heat storage capacity at small temperature intervals. Nevertheless, leakage problems and low thermal conductivity limit the practical applications of PCMs. Therefore, form-stable phase change materials with high thermal conductivity are urgently needed. Results: A novel form-stable composite phase change material was prepared by incorporating PEG into waste sawdust with 5% EG. In the composites, PEG served as a phase change material, while waste sawdust acted as a carrier matrix. EG was added to help increase the thermal conductivity of the composites. The melting temperature of CPCMs-4 with 5% EG was found to be 58.6 °C with a phase change enthalpy of 145.3 kJ/kg, while the solidifying temperature was 48.5 °C with a phase change enthalpy of 131.4 kJ/kg. The thermal conductivity of CPCMs-4 with 5% EG increased by 23.8% compared with that of CPCMs-4. Moreover, no obvious changes in melting, solidifying temperature, or latent heat after 200 heating-cooling cycles were detected. The supercooling extent of CPCMs-4 with 5% EG decreased by 19.2% compared with PEG. The volume change properties and wettability properties of CPCMs-4 with 5% EG are suitable for thermal energy in terms of practical application. Conclusions: The prepared composites have excellent thermal and form-stable properties and they can be recognized as potential candidates for thermal energy storage as form-stable composite phase change materials. Using simple impregnation techniques with waste sawdust as a supporting material, this study demonstrates an innovative technology for practically and markedly enhancing the adsorption capacity of phase change materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationships between spatially remote brain regions in human have typically been estimated by moment-to-moment correlations of blood-oxygen-level dependent signals in resting-state using functional MRI (fMRI). Recently, studies using subject-to-subject covariance of anatomical volumes, cortical thickness, and metabolic activity are becoming increasingly popular. However, question remains on whether these measures reflect the same inter-region connectivity and brain network organizations. In the current study, we systematically analyzed inter-subject volumetric covariance from anatomical MRI images, metabolic covariance from fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography images from 193 healthy subjects, and resting-state moment-to-moment correlations from fMRI images of a subset of 44 subjects. The correlation matrices calculated from the three methods were found to be minimally correlated, with higher correlation in the range of 0.31, as well as limited proportion of overlapping connections. The volumetric network showed the highest global efficiency and lowest mean clustering coefficient, leaning toward random-like network, while the metabolic and resting-state networks conveyed properties more resembling small-world networks. Community structures of the volumetric and metabolic networks did not reflect known functional organizations, which could be observed in resting-state network. The current results suggested that inter-subject volumetric and metabolic covariance do not necessarily reflect the inter-regional relationships and network organizations as resting-state correlations, thus calling for cautions on interpreting results of inter-subject covariance networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matrix effects have been a major concern when developing LC−MS/MS methods for quantitative bioanalysis of cycloserine. Sample handling procedures including solid phase extraction or derivatization have been reported previously by researchers to overcome matrix effects of cycloserine. In the present study, the possibility of reducing matrix effects of cycloserine using protein precipitation coupled with dilution techniques was investigated. Plasma samples were pretreated by protein precipitation with methanol followed by a 40-fold dilution with methanol-water (50:50, v/ v). The analyte and the internal standard (mildronate) were chromatographed on a Shim-pack XR-ODS (100 mm × 2.0 mm, 2.2 μm) column using methanol-0.01% formic acid (70:30, v/v) as mobile phase and detected by multiple reaction monitoring mode via positive electrospray ionization. The total run time was only 2 min per sample. The suppression of cycloserine response was reduced with the matrix effects ranging between 80.5 and 87.9%. A lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 0.300 μg/mL was achieved using only 10 μL of plasma. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 4.8% and the accuracy ranged from −2.6 to 6.6%. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of cycloserine in 30 healthy Chinese male subjects after oral administration of a single dose of cycloserine at 250, 500 and 750 mg under fasting conditions. The newly developed method is simpler, faster, cost-effective, and more robust than previously reported LC-MS/MS methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding functional connectivity of the amygdala with other brain regions, especially task modulated connectivity, is a critical step toward understanding the role of the amygdala in emotional processes and the interactions between emotion and cognition. The present study performed coordinate-based meta-analysis on studies of task modulated connectivity of the amygdala which used psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis. We first analyzed 49 PPI studies on different types of tasks using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis. Widespread cortical and subcortical regions showed consistent task modulated connectivity with the amygdala, including the medial frontal cortex, bilateral insula, anterior cingulate, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus, and basal ganglia. These regions were in general overlapped with those showed coactivations with the amygdala, suggesting that these regions and amygdala are not only activated together, but also show different levels of interactions during tasks. Further analyses with subsets of PPI studies revealed task specific functional connectivities with the amygdala that were modulated by fear processing, face processing, and emotion regulation. These results suggest a dynamic modulation of connectivity upon task demands, and provide new insights on the functions of the amygdala in different affective and cognitive processes. The meta-analytic approach on PPI studies may offer a framework toward systematical examinations of task modulated connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various studies have indicated that the thalamus is involved in controlling both cortico-cortical information flow and cortical communication with the rest of the brain. Detailed anatomy and functional connectivity patterns of the thalamocortical system are essential to understanding the cortical organization and pathophysiology of a wide range of thalamus-related neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. The current study used resting-state fMRI to investigate the topography of the human thalamocortical system from a functional perspective. The thalamus-related cortical networks were identified by performing independent component analysis on voxel-based thalamic functional connectivity maps across a large group of subjects. The resulting functional brain networks were very similar to well-established resting-state network maps. Using these brain network components in a spatial regression model with each thalamic voxel's functional connectivity map, we localized the thalamic subdivisions related to each brain network. For instance, the medial dorsal nucleus was shown to be associated with the default mode, the bilateral executive, the medial visual networks; and the pulvinar nucleus was involved in both the dorsal attention and the visual networks. These results revealed that a single nucleus may have functional connections with multiple cortical regions or even multiple functional networks, and may be potentially related to the function of mediation or modulation of multiple cortical networks. This observed organization of thalamocortical system provided a reference for studying the functions of thalamic sub-regions. The importance of intrinsic connectivity-based mapping of the thalamocortical relationship is discussed, as well as the applicability of the approach for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of large-scale brain functional connectivity using the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging have advanced our understanding of human brain functions. Although the evidence of dynamic functional connectivity is accumulating, the variations of functional connectivity over time have not been well characterized. In the present study, we aimed to associate the variations of functional connectivity with the intrinsic activities of resting-state networks during a single resting-state scan by comparing functional connectivity differences between when a network had higher and lower intrinsic activities. The activities of the salience network, default mode network (DMN), and motor network were associated with changes of resting-state functional connectivity. Higher activity of the salience network was accompanied by greater functional connectivity between the fronto-parietal regions and the DMN regions, and between the regions within the DMN. Higher DMN activity was associated with less connectivity between the regions within the DMN, and greater connectivity between the regions within the fronto-parietal network. Higher motor network activity was correlated with greater connectivity between the regions within the motor network, and smaller connectivity between the DMN regions and fronto-parietal regions, and between the DMN regions and the motor regions. In addition, the whole brain network modularity was positively correlated with the motor network activity, suggesting that the brain is more segregated as sub-systems when the motor network is intrinsically activated. Together, these results demonstrate the association between the resting-state connectivity variations and the intrinsic activities of specific networks, which can provide insights on the dynamic changes in large-scale brain connectivity and network configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triptorelin, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist, has been used in the treatment of hormone-responsive prostate cancer by inducing testosterone suppression. Research on the relationship between the time courses of triptorelin and testosterone is very important, but accurate quantification of triptorelin and testosterone simultaneously in biological specimens is a challenging analytical problem. In the present study, a rapid, sensitive, and selective method for simultaneous determination of triptorelin and testosterone in rat plasma by solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was developed using a ZORBAX RRHD Eclipse Plus C8 column (2.1 × 50 mm, 1.8 μm) with a 0.05 % propionic acid/methanol gradient. In view of the polarity difference between the two analytes, two internal standards, i.e., leuprolide and testosterone-C, were used for individual quantitation of triptorelin and testosterone. Endogenous testosterone was determined by reference to a calibration curve prepared using testosterone-D as a surrogate analyte. The method exhibits excellent linearity over three orders of magnitude for each analyte. The lower limit of quantification was 0.01 ng/mL for triptorelin and 0.05 ng/mL for testosterone, with consumption of 100 μL of plasma. The method was successfully applied to characterize the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of slow-release 28-day form triptorelin acetate biodegradable microspheres in rats after intramuscular injections of three consecutive doses of 0.6 mg/kg per 28 days. The results revealed that the pharmacokinetic profile of triptorelin produced an initial flare-up in testosterone levels, rapid castration within 5 days after injection, and long-term castration until the next dose. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry was employed to investigate the metabolism of linarin in rats. Identification and structural elucidation of the metabolites were performed by comparing the differences in molecular masses, retention times, and full scan MS spectra between linarin and its metabolites. Six metabolites (acacetin, apigenin, acacetin glucuronide, apigenin glucuronide, acacetin sulfate, apigenin sulfate) were detected in rat urine after oral administration of linarin at the dose of 50 mg kg. Furthermore, a selective and sensitive liquid chromatography-triple quadruple mass spectrometry assay was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of linarin and acacetin (the major metabolite of linarin) in rat urine. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a C column, and mass spectrometric detection was performed using a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer coupled with an electrospray ionization source in the positive ion mode. Quantitation of linarin and acacetin was performed using selected reaction monitoring of precursor-product ion transitions at m/z 593 → 285 for linarin, 285 → 242 for acacetin, and 303 → 153 for hesperitin (internal standard), respectively. The assay exhibited good linearity ( r > 0.9900) for both linarin and acacetin. The intra- and inter-day precisions were <13.4 % and the accuracy was between −8.1 and 3.1 %. The method was successfully applied to the urinary excretion study of linarin in rats after oral administration of linarin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method (LC-MS-MS) has been developed for simultaneous determination of 20( R)-25-methoxyl-dammarane-3,12,20-triol (25-OCH-PPD) and its active metabolite, 20( R)-dammarane-3,12,20,25-tetrol (25-OH-PPD) in beagle dog's plasma. Diazepam was employed as an internal standard. Sample preparation involved a liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl ether and dichloromethane (3:2, v/v). Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Phenomenex C material (50 × 2.0 mm i.d., 4 μm) using methanol-water-formic acid (124:26:0.3, v/v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.25 mL min. The present method exhibited good linearity over the concentration range of 2-500 ng mL for 25-OCH-PPD and 2-60 ng mL for 25-OH-PPD. The lower limit of quantification was 2 and 2 ng mL for 25-OCH-PPD and 25-OH-PPD, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precision values for 25-OCH-PPD and 25-OH-PPD met the requirements of the FDA guidance, and the accuracy (RE) ranged from −4.1 to 5.6% calculated from QC samples. No endogenous compound was found to interfere with the analysis. 25-OCH-PPD and 25-OH-PPD were stable during all storage, pretreatment and analytical periods. The validated method was successfully used to study the pharmacokinetics of 25-OCH-PPD in beagle dogs after oral administration at a dose of 12 mg kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influences of inspecting time-interval and location on varying behavior of metal magnetic memory (MMM) signals of defects were studied. Different areas in two precracked weldments were inspected at different time-intervals by type TSC-1M-4 stress-concentration magnetic inspector to obtain MMM signals. Mechanisms of MMM signals varying behavior with inspecting time and space were analyzed and discussed respectively. It is found that MMM signals don’t change with inspecting time-interval, since stress field and magnetic leakage field maintain unchanged at any time after welding. On the other hand, MMM signals differ greatly for different inspecting locations, because stress field and magnetic leakage field are unevenly distributed in defective ferromagnetic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far the study of exponential bounds of an empirical process has been restricted to a bounded index class of functions. The case of an unbounded index class of functions is now studied on the basis of a new symmetrization idea and a new method of truncating the original probability space; the exponential bounds of the tail probabilities for the supremum of the empirical process over an unbounded class of functions are obtained. The exponential bounds can be used to establish laws of the logarithm for the empirical processes over unbounded classes of functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tail probability inequalities for the sum of independent unbounded random variables on a probability space (Ω, T, P) were studied and a new method was proposed to treat the sum of independent unbounded random variables by truncating the original probability space (Ω, T, P). The probability exponential inequalities for sums of independent unbounded random variables were given. As applications of the results, some interesting examples were given. The examples show that the method proposed in the paper and the results of the paper are quite useful in the study of the large sample properties of the sums of independent unbounded random variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims of this study were to determine the normal range of absolute and relative Hertel exophthalmometric values (EVs) in a Chinese Han population. This population-based cross-sectional study consisted of 2010 healthy Han Chinese (1051 females and 959 males) aged between 8-87 years living in Shenyang, Northeast China, including 515 children (aged 8-14 years), 517 teenagers (aged 15-19 years), 582 adults (aged 20-69 years) and 396 elderly (aged 70-87 years). A Hertel exophthalmometer was used by the same physician for the measurement of EV and inter-orbital distance (IOD). For the entire study population, the Hertel EVs ranged from 10 mm to 22 mm; the mean EVs for the left eye (OS) and right eye (OD) were 15.0 ± 1.9 mm and 15.0 ± 2.0 mm, respectively; the upper normal limits of the EVs (mean + 2 SD) for OS and OD were 18.8 mm and 19.0 mm, respectively; the mean relative EV was 0.20 ± 0.43 mm. Age, but not sex, had a significant effect on the EV. We concluded that our study provides normative ophthalmic data in a Chinese Han population. The normal EVs, asymmetry and IOD values have been established for clinical reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]