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Study Design: An anatomic analysis. Objective: To investigate the feasibility of the ideal atlas pedicle screw trajectory perpendicular to the coronal plane via atlas digital 3D reconstruction. Methods: One hundred adult atlases were evaluated in this study. The projection of the corridor for atlas pedicle screw fixation perpendicular to the coronal plane was quickly obtained using the perspective model of 3D reconstruction, and the area, long axis, short axis and width of the pedicle corridor were measured. The inner trajectory was near the lateral wall of the pedicle, and the center of the corridor was point A. The lateral trajectory was near the lateral wall of the transverse foramen, and the center of the trajectory was point C. The midpoint of A and C was B. The length of the inner, middle and lateral trajectorys were measured. The distances from points A, B and C to the posterior tubercle of the atlas and safety swing angle were measured. Results: From the dorsal view, the pedicle corridor was fitted into an ellipse with an average long axis of 13.6 mm, an average short axis of 5.2 mm, and an average area of 56.3 mm2. From the axial view, the pedicle corridor had an average width of 9.4 mm. The average lengths of the inner trajectory, middle trajectory and lateral trajectory were 31.7 mm, 28.7 mm and 25.1 mm, respectively; The average distances from the posterior tubercle to points A, B and C were 17.1 mm, 20.8 mm and 24.5 mm, respectively. The average swing angles from points A, B and C were 16.1°, 25.5°, and 28.1°, respectively. Conclusion: Atlas pedicle screw fixation perpendicular to the coronal plane is feasible for almost all the volunteers. Pedicle screws close to the pedicle lateral wall of the atlas posterior arch perpendicular to the coronal plane is an advanced technique that is easy to master.

Objective Accumulating evidence indicates an association between improved cognition and the early introduction of environmental enrichment (EE). The beneficial effect of EE has also been examined in the field of methamphetamine (METH) dependence. The present study was designed to examine whether early cognitive alterations by dizocilpine (MK-801) in adolescence can impact the effect of EE on spatial memory, METH self-administration (SA), and cue-induced renewal in adulthood. Methods In Experiments 1 and 2, Morris Water Maze (MWM) performance, c-Fos expression and N-methyl d -aspartate receptor subtype 2B (NMDAR2B) levels were determined in various brain regions following a change in rearing condition from EE to an isolation environment (IE) at different points (PD 41–60 or PD 51–70). In Experiments 3 and 4, MWM performance and METH SA behaviors in adulthood were tested following adolescent administration of MK-801 during different periods of adolescence (PD 41–60 or PD 51–70) under EE rearing conditions. Results The early introduction of the IE at PD 41–60 significantly decreased the beneficial effect of EE on MWM performance in adulthood as compared to IE exposure at PD 51–70. Different rearing conditions also altered c-Fos expression and NMDA2B receptor activity in a regionally specific pattern. EE induced structural and systemic changes in the hippocampus that were associated with improvements in spatial memory. Early administration of MK-801 at PD 41–60 and PD 51–70 produced distinctive effects on the behavioral outcomes of METH SA and cue-induced renewal. Conclusion Early cognitive alterations have a profound impact on spatial memory and METH dependence.

There are different types of elbows in the duct system, including inside and outside arc type, inside arc outside right angle type and inside diagonal outside right angle type elbows, which are commonly used. The uniformity of the airflow organization inside large elbows is a key factor in determining the size of the system resistance. the energy consumption and the noise of air conditioning and ventilation. Therefore, a certain deflector is usually set up inside the elbow.In this paper, CFD simulation technology is used to predict and compare the air distribution of the different types of large elbows. The conclusions of this study intend to serve as a reference for similar projects in the future.

Elbow cable terminal is widely used in ring main unit and cable branch box and is prone to causing fault. In this paper, experiment and disassembling analysis were made on a fault elbow cable terminal, which occurred faults repeatedly. It was investigated that the key processes of the fault elbow cable terminal were not well-controlled so that led to partial discharge. Finite element method (FEM) was used to calculate the electric field distribution of the elbow cable terminal and the result confirms that the key process is the main reason for the repeated faults. Finally, corresponding suggestions were proposed combined with practical operation and maintenance experience.

The cultivation of college students' political values is an important content of ideological and political work in the new era of college education. the rapid development of big data technology provides a new path for the cultivation of political values. This paper focuses on the connotation and mechanism of cultivating college students' political values in the era of big data, aiming to enrich the cultivation concept of political values in the era of big data, explore the cultivation mechanism, and innovate the cultivation method, so as to improve the cultivation effect.

Objective To analyse the anatomical conditions of transverse sacroiliac screw (TSS) about the S1 and S2 segments in order to develop and validate a locked navigational template for TSS placement. Methods A total of 22 patients with sacral fractures were involved in this study from May 2018 to February 2019. Patients were divided into two groups according to the surgery procedure: locked template group and conventional group. The CT data of 90 normal sacra were analysed. The long axis, short axis and lengths of TSS, cancellous corridors were measured through 3D modelling. A patient-specific locked navigation template based on simulated screws was designed and 3D printed and then used to assist in TSS placement. The operative time and radiation times were recorded. The Matta criteria and grading score were evaluated. The entry point deviation of the actual screw placement relative to the simulated screw placement was measured, and whether the whole screw was in the cancellous corridor was ob`served. Results S1 screws with a diameter of 7.3 mm could be inserted into 69 pelvises, and S2 screws could be inserted in all pelvises. The S1 cancellous corridor had a long axis of 25.44 ± 3.32 mm in males and 22.91 ± 2.46 mm in females, a short axis of 14.21 ± 2.19 mm in males and 12.15 ± 3.22 mm in females, a corridor length of 153.07 ± 11.99 mm in males and 151.11 ± 8.73 mm in females, and a proportional position of the optimal entry point in the long axis of the cancellous corridor of 35.96 ± 10.31% in males and 33.28 ± 7.2% in females. There were significant differences in the corridor long axis and corridor short axis between sexes (p < 0.05), and there were no significant differences in corridor length and proportional position of the optimal entry point in the long axis of the cancellous corridor between sexes (p > 0.05). The S2 cancellous corridor had a long axis of 17.58 ± 2.36 mm in males and 16 ± 2.64 mm in females, a short axis of 14.21 ± 2.19 mm in males and 13.14 ± 2.2 mm in females, a corridor length of 129.95 ± 0.89 mm in males and 136.5 ± 7.96 mm in females, and a proportional position of the optimal entry point in the long axis of the cancellous corridor of 46.77 ± 9.02% in males and 42.25 ± 11.95% in females. There were significant differences in the long axis, short axis and corridor length (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the proportional position of the optimal entry point in the long axis of the cancellous corridor (p > 0.05). A total of 20 transversal sacroiliac screws were successfully implanted into 10 patients with the assistance of locked navigation templates, and a total of 24 transversal sacroiliac screws were successfully implanted into 12 patients under C-arm fluoroscopy. There was a significant difference in surgical time (88 ± 14.76 min vs 102.5 ± 17.12 min, p = 0.048), radiation times (11.5 ± 1.78 vs 54.83 ± 6.59, p < 0.05) and screw grading between two groups (nineteen screws in grade 0, one screw in grade 1 and 0 screws in grade 2 vs fourteen screws in grade 0, 8 screws in grade 1 and 2 screws in grade 2, p = 0.005). All screw entry point deviations were shorter than the short axis of the cancellous corridor, and all screws were located completely within the cancellous corridor. Conclusion Approximately 76% of males and females can accommodate screws with diameters of 7.3 mm in S1, and all persons can accommodate the same screw in S2. From the standard lateral perspective of the sacrum, the optimal entry point of the transverse screw is in the first 1/3 of the cancellous corridor for S1 and the centre of the cancellous corridor for S2. The patient-specific locked navigation template assisted in TSS placement with less operative time, less intraoperative fluoroscopy and higher safety of screw placement compared with traditional surgery.

Background/purpose: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaws (MRONJ) is an unusual but quite serious complication. However, its mechanism remains unclear, and its treatment protocol is still controversial. Materials and methods: Our study involved 201 osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) patients from September 2006 to March 2017. We analyzed risk factors, clinical characteristics, treatment, etc., by comparing MRONJ with other ONJs. Results: Among 201 patients, MRONJ accounted for 14.71% and it presented a consistent increase tendency. In comparison with other ONJs, we considered advanced age, maxilla lesion, diabetes mellitus, tooth extraction, especially multi-teeth extraction as risk factors (P 0.05). 81.3% patients with advanced stage showed complete or partial healing lesions after surgery. Conclusion: Advanced age, maxilla lesion, diabetes mellitus, tooth extraction seem to be important triggering factors for MRONJ. Clinicians and surgeons should pay attention to maxillary lesions as it is related to severe symptoms and unfavorable prognosis. Once diagnosed as MRONJ, surgery is an effective treatment for patients with advanced stage. Keywords: Bisphosphate, Osteonecrosis, Risk factor, Treatment

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of grape pomace extracts on obesity-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats. To this end, forty male Wistar rats were assigned into four groups and were fed regular chow, high-fat diet, high-fat diet plus low-dose grape pomace extract (0.5%, w/w) or high-dose (2%, w/w) grape pomace extract (GPE) for 16 weeks. We observed that lipid concentrations (triglyceride and cholesterol) were elevated in the plasma and liver in rats on a high-fat diet and also on those receiving 2% GPE with high-fat diet. These changes were resulting from the downregulation of lipogenic enzymes and stimulation of hepatic lipolysis. A high-fat diet-mediated increase in hepatic oxidative stress was reduced by GPE. The plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 were significantly decreased by GPE. These results suggest that the supplementation with GPE may ameliorate adiposity, hepatic steatosis, oxidative stress and inflammation in high-fat diet-fed rats and potentially retard the development of obesity-induced NAFLD.

Carbon monoxide reformer furnaces were used in the petrochemical industry to produce kinds of gases such as CO, OXO and H2 from a mixture of natural gas and steam at high temperature. However, the degradation of material microstructure was frequently encountered in the outlet manifolds due to the service environment undertaking elevated temperature and complex stress state, leading to their premature failure. In this paper, some properties were compared between premature failure manifold and virgin pipe material, such as chemical compositions, mechanical properties at room temperature and elevated temperatures, etc. The deterioration trend of manifold material 20Cr33NiNb alloy was obtained. Microscopic fracture surfaces were observed. The microstructure of failure manifold was analyzed by SEM and EDS. The results indicated that elevated temperature and high stress level were considered to be the failure reasons. Some meaningful suggestions were proposed.

To avoid expanding existing fossil power plants, building the energy performance management system is an effect method to cope with a high growth demand of electricity in China's urbanization process. The accuracy thermal load prediction is the first step to build an energy performance management system which has important significance for energy saving, decreasing air pollution and high-efficiency operation of HVAC system. This paper discusses the use of hybrid intelligent approaches and re-optimization strategy, a multi-layer hybrid model (APNN) has been proposed by hybridizing an auto-regressive model with exogenous inputs (ARX) and a particle swarm optimization neural network (PSO-NN) to make a good use of the comprehensive information of the meteorological data and historical data. For the purposes of improving prediction precision generalization ability of the multi-layer hybrid model, temperature interval and hierarchical modeling techniques were used. According to the re-optimization strategy, there are two improvements of the previous proposed APNN model, which are based on temperature interval and hierarchical modeling by solar radiation intensity. Compared with the basic prediction models, validation results show that accuracy of the optimized models are greatly improved. What’s more, the optimization of multi-layer hybrid building’s cooling and heating load soft sensing technology enhance learning and generalization capability of the basic APNN model.

Based on the convenient access provided by the micro-distributed power supply and power electronic control technology, design schemes for energy router frame distributed power supply and AC/DC load access are proposed. Based on the overall regulation strategy of energy integration, the overall control structure of the energy router is given. Meanwhile, grid-connected, off-grid and switching processes are simulated in the Matlab/Simulink environment, which vindicates the feasibility of the control method and parameter selection. The users' specific requirements for the quantity and quality of power can be satisfied and can therefore achieve desirable operational reliability and economical efficiency.

Firstly, this paper uses the method that combines theoretical analysis with simulation to design a dual-frequency absorber. The absorption peaks appear at the two frequencies of 6GHz and 10.5GHz, and the absorption rates are 79% and 88%. Then based on the dual-frequency structure, the lumped components are introduced and the structure is optimized. The calculation results show that the absorption bandwidth and absorption rate are greatly improved, and the performance advantages of the metamaterial absorber based on lumped components are verified.

Development of oral mucositis represents a rate-limiting factor in radiation therapy for the treatment of head and neck, as well as other cancers. In this work, we investigated the treatment effect of ecdysterone (a steroid derived from the dry root of Achyranthes bidentate) on radiation-induced oral mucositis, and examined possible underlying mechanisms. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 20 Gy X-ray irradiation (single dose, cranial localization) to induce oral mucositis. Possible therapeutic effects of ecdysterone on radiation-induced oral mucositis were investigated by monitoring weights, direct observations, visual scoring method and evaluation of hematoxylin and eosin staining. Assessments of leukocyte common antigen and proliferating cell nuclear antigen staining were also performed in the damaged areas of tongues harvested after irradiation, and changes in signaling pathways were investigated using Western blotting. The development and progression of radiation-induced oral mucositis in this model was similar to that observed in clinic patients. Ecdysterone effectively improved radiation-induced oral mucositis as assessed by direct observation and histopathology, and also increased proliferation of matrix cells, since the Ras-Raf-ERK signal pathway was found to be activated by its use. It was concluded that orally administered ecdysterone accelerated the healing process in a rat model of radiation-induced oral mucositis by upregulating the Ras-Raf-ERK signal pathway.

A higher visit-to-visit variability in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is associated with an increased frequency of cardiovascular events. We investigated the association between the visit-to-visit LDL-C variability and all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), and coronary revascularization in a population with non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).From this retrospective cohort of individuals who underwent coronary angiography from 2006 to 2010, a total of 2.012 consecutive patients with non-obstructive CAD, who underwent three or more LDL-C determinations during the first 2 years, were identified and followed up for 5 years. The variability in the visit-to-visit LDL-C was measured by standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (CV). The risk of all-cause mortality and composite endpoints, MI, and coronary revascularization were evaluated by a multivariable Cox regression analysis.During a 5-year follow-up, a total of 99 (4.92%) mortality cases and 154 (7.65%) cases of composite endpoints were observed. The percentage of subjects who experienced mortality or composite endpoints was higher in those with a higher LDL-C-SD or LDL-C-CV level. The association between the LDL-C variability and clinical endpoints was regardless of possible confounding factors.Among the patients with non-obstructive CAD, a higher visit-to-visit LDL-C variability is associated with increasing all-cause mortality or composite endpoints during the long-term follow-up.

In ordered to realize dynamic simulation of working process in the rotary engine, a spark-ignition rotary engine is chosen as the research object, the detailed calculated models have been established including combustion model and turbulence model. With numerical simulation, same important information in the cylinder is obtained, such as the velocity, temperature fields and flame propagation. Furthermore, the effect of pocket location on the flame propagation is analyzed. The results show that under the calculating condition, when the pocket is located at the rear of rotor, the rate of combustion and the peak pressure are better than that of other cases, and NO emissions increases accordingly. This study provides some theory guidance for the determination of best pocket location under different working conditions.

Balancing the need to increase crop yields with the need to reduce the environmental impacts of fertilizers will pose major policy, regulatory, and extension challenges for China. A growing number of studies have demonstrated the potential for improving fertilizer use efficiency in China, but it is not clear how to achieve these efficiency improvements on a larger scale. The empirical foundation for fertilizer policy in China is still weak, particularly in inland provinces. This paper examines fertilizer use patterns in Yunnan Province, an inland and ecologically important province in Southwest China, drawing on two household surveys. We find that fertilizer application rates in the survey areas are highly heterogeneous, among crops, households, and regions. Managing this diversity poses the largest challenge to fertilizer policy in Yunnan and, by extension, in China. None of the factors that we examine in this study are robust predictors of fertilizer intensity (kg ha(-1)) in the survey regions, though in one survey there is a strong inverse relationship between farm size and fertilizer intensity. The lack of clearer signals in the survey data, a consequence of heterogeneity in cropping patterns, agroecosystems, and local economies, underscores the importance of locally tailored approaches to fertilizer regulation in China, and of a strong, service-oriented agricultural extension system oriented around sustainable agriculture. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Human tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) has been implicated as a metastasis-associated gene in many types of tumors. In this study, we investigated whether TFPI-2 was inactivated epigenetically in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Methylation status was investigated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction and bisulfate genomic sequencing. TFPI-2 was aberrantly methylated in 50% (3/6) of AML cell lines. Aberrant methylation of TFPI-2 promoter was detected in 71.6% (48/67) of the Chinese pediatric AML patients. TFPI-2 transcript was significantly lower in AML group compared with controls (3.44 vs. 32.8, P

For the first time, a direct detection BOTDR is demonstrated for distributed dynamic strain sensing incorporating double-edge technique, time-division multiplexing technique and upconversion technique. The double edges are realized by using the transmission curve and reflection curve of an all-fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). Benefiting from the low loss of the fiber at, the time-division multiplexing technique is performed to realize the double-edge technique by using only a single-channel FPI and only one piece of a detector. In order to detect the weak spontaneous Brillouin backscattering signal efficiently, a fiber-coupled upconversion detector is adopted to upconvert the backscattering signal at 1548.1 nm to 863 nm, which is detected by a Si-APD finally. In the experiment, dynamic strain disturbance up to 1.9m{\epsilon} over 1.5 km of polarization maintaining fiber is detected at a sampling rate of 30 Hz. An accuracy of 30{\mu}{\epsilon} and spatial resolution of 0.6 m is realized., Comment: 13pages 7figures

Research and application of distributed optical fiber Raman temperature sensor (DTS) is briefly introduced in this paper. The current situation of domestic oil, gas storage and transportation security is analyzed. In the instance of the application in the project of Rizhao Port oil tank area, a field test is conducted. The experimental results show that the various points' temperature that depot tanks and transmission lines possess can be measured in a real-time online way by distributed optical fiber Raman temperature sensor and the temperature points' location can be pinpointed. Due to these functions, oil depot fire caused by high temperature can be prevented effectively. In the Engineering Application, there are some important parameters that sensing fiber length is 30 km, the spatial resolution is 2 meters, and the temperature of uncertainty is 1 Celsius degree.

The current study was designed to investigate the effect of abstinence in combination with environmental enrichment (EE) on cardiac and renal toxicity induced by 2 weeks of ketamine self-administration (SA) in rodents. In Experiment 1, one group of rats underwent ketamine SA for 14 days. In Experiment 2, the animals completed 2 weeks of ketamine SA followed by 2 and 4 weeks of abstinence. In Experiment 3, animals underwent 14 days of ketamine SA and 4 weeks of abstinence in which isolated environment (IE) and EE was introduced. The corresponding control groups were included for each experiment. Two weeks of ketamine SA caused significant increases in organ weight, Apoptosis Stimulating Fragment/Kidney Injury Molecule-1 and apoptotic level of heart and kidney. The extended length of withdrawal from ketamine SA partially reduced toxicity on the heart and kidney. Finally, introduction of EE during the period of abstinence greatly promoted the effect of abstinence on ketamine-induced cardiac and renal toxicity. The interactive effect of EE and abstinence was promising to promote the recovery of cardiac and renal toxicity of ketamine.

To provide further insight into the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the pathophysiology of prostate cancer, we conducted an updated, detailed meta-analysis of 56 published case-control and cohort studies.MEDLINE and EMBASE were used to identify the literature published in April 2012 related to both diabetes mellitus and prostate cancer. A sensitivity analysis was performed, and potential confounding effects were investigated using a stratified meta-analysis. A cumulative meta-analysis was also carried out to evaluate the cumulative effect estimate over time.A total of 24 case-control and 32 cohort studies with information on a total of ~8,000,000 subjects and ~140,000 individuals with prostatic cancer showed published estimates of the association between diabetes and prostate cancer malignancy. The pooled effect estimate revealed a relative risk (RR) of 0.88 (95% CI, 0.82-0.93). Interestingly, there was an increased trend for Asians (RR = 1.72, n = 7) but not Americans (RR = 0.82, n = 28) and Europeans (RR = 0.86, n = 21) regarding the association between diabetes mellitus and prostate cancer. The sensitivity analysis, excluding any one study, did not significantly change the pooled RR. The range for the pooled RR when one study was omitted was 0.84-0.89.The findings of our meta-analysis provide strong evidence of an inverse association between diabetes and prostate cancer.Further research should focus on limitations in the current literature and re-assess the relationship between diabetes and prostate cancer by analyzing the two different diabetes mellitus types separately.

Low-loss glass-based buried multimode waveguides are fabricated by using the field-assisted Ag+-Na+ ion-exchange technique, and multimode optical power splitters are investigated. The measured loss of the multimode waveguides is lower than 0.1dB/cm, and the additional loss of the multimode optical power splitters is lower than 1.3 dB under the uniform splitting condition.

Based on the self-imaging effect, multimode interference (MMI) optical switches with area modulation were proposed. The field transfer matrix was introduced to analyze the MMI switches. As an example, the phase modulation parameters of a 3 × 3 MMI switch for different switching cases were obtained by solving the field transfer equation. And the finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM) was used to confirm the analytical results.

There is growing evidence supporting a role for tumor suppressor as targets in aberrant mechanisms of DNA hypermethylation. Methylation in the promoter of tumor suppressor always plays important roles in pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). CDH13 gene is a tumor suppressor involved in tumorigenesis, metastasis and apoptosis in a variety of tumors. In this study, we are trying to investigate whether CDH13 was down regulated by promoter methylation in pediatric AML. MRNA transcriptional expression levels of CDH13 were evaluated by semi-quantitative PCR and real-time PCR. Methylation status of CDH13 prompter was investigated by Methylation Specific PCR (MSP) and Bisulfate Genomic Sequencing (BGS). CDH13 mRNA transcription was inactivated in AML cell lines. Promoter of CDH13 was aberrantly methylated in 55.6% (5/9) leukemia cell lines. Promoter aberrant methylation of CDH13 was detected in 34.2% (24/70) of the cases of pediatric AML. The methylation of CDH13 promoter could be detected in all FAB subtypes. There were no significant differences in clinical features between patients with and without CDH13 methylation. Expression of CDH13 was significantly lower in AML patients group compared to normal bone marrow (NBM) control samples .The expression of CDH13 in thirty controls was significantly higher than pediatric AML patients. Both patients with CDH13 methylation (n=24) and those without CDH13 methylation (n=46) had significantly lower CDH13 transcript than controls (p

A plant building with storage of flammable materials was partly RC frame, and partly steel frame. After fire, most part of the steel frame collapsed, and the RC frame was badly damaged. Firstly, the depths of carbonation of concrete and concrete strength were detected, and then fire safety status of the plant structure was appraised. Finally, based on appraisement results, the plant structure was strengthened.

This paper describes the evaluation of a fiber-optic displacement sensor that is compensated for variations in light-source intensity as well as for losses in the fibers. On the basis of the intensity distribution function of the output optical field formed by the source fiber end, the compensation mechanism of the twin-receiving-fiber displacement sensor is analyzed. It is shown theoretically that the ratio of the outputs of a pair of detecting fibers is independent of the light-source intensity and losses in the fiber system. Results are presented that confirm this.

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate invasion and metastasis related genes in gastric cancer. Methods The transwell migration assay was used to select a highly invasive sub-line from minimally invasive parent gastric cancer cells, and gene expression was compared using a microarray. MMP28 upregulation was confirmed using qRT-PCR. MMP28 immunohistochemistry was performed in normal and gastric cancer specimens. Invasiveness and tumor formation of stable cells overexpressing MMP28 were tested in vitro and in vivo. Results MMP28 was overexpressed in the highly invasive sub-cell line. Immunohistochemistry revealed MMP28 expression was markedly increased in gastric carcinoma relative to normal epithelia, and was significantly associated with depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis and poorer overall survival. Ectopic expression of MMP28 indicated MMP28 promoted tumor cell invasion in vitro and increased gastric carcinoma metastasis in vivo. Conclusions This study indicates MMP28 is frequently overexpressed during progression of gastric carcinoma, and contributes to tumor cell invasion and metastasis. MMP28 may be a novel therapeutic target for prevention and treatment of metastases in gastric cancer.

Because of unique economic, cultural, and social factors, the personal experiences of HIV/AIDS patients in the rural areas of western China are not well understood. The aim of this study was to explore HIV/AIDS patients' thoughts and personal experiences in the environment and conditions of rural western China. Sixteen HIV/AIDS patients from remote western areas of China were interviewed by using an established qualitative method, during April to June 2008. The interviews were transcribed, and the findings were extracted after the interview content was read, classified, and analyzed repeatedly. We uncovered five general categories of personal experiences: worsening of family economic status, profound influence of traditional village culture, the family as the dynamic of surviving, an enhanced sense of familial responsibility, and dramatic psychological changes. The results of this study can provide useful information to assist health care professionals in China in their efforts to improve the general condition of these HIV/AIDS patients.

Computer-Aided Engineering(CAE) methods are becoming more and more important for the modern industry. However, the applications in the extrusion industry are still limited because of the contradition between the slow simulation speed and the fast die delivery requirement. This paper presents a new fast simplified method for analyzing the exit velocity field of aluminum extrusion. Rigid-plastic finite element method is employed with zero displacement boundary conditions and friction boundary conditions to meet the specific requirement of the aluminum extrusion die industry. The computational time of the proposed method is only a few hours. In the applications, the simulated results fit the experiments and the theoretical solution very well, which demonstrates the efficiency and versatility of the method.

Two-way mechanism can be able to achieve time synchronization in the wireless sensor network.TPSN (Timing-Sync Protocol for Sensor Networks) is a representative time synchronization algorithm for wireless sensor network. And this algorithm gets synchronization time through exchanging messages by the bi-directional way. Because of the delay in information transmission, its receive time is inaccurate, so the accuracy of synchronization time is affected to a certain extent. This paper will use Bayesian estimation methods to improve the receive time of TPSN synchronization mechanism, which based on "the receive time error subjects to gauss distribution with the mean of 0", to calculate the more accurate receive time, and finally obtains more precise synchronization time offset. The simulation results show that the use of Bayesian estimation method can significantly improve the precision of synchronization algorithm.

It is a bottleneck of application of speech recognition that the accuracy of speech engine is not high enough. But in some cases we may obtain ideal accuracy using context knowledge. If speech input is one element of a finite set, we can improve the accuracy greatly using syllable similarity. In this paper we first describe the definition of syllable similarity, then give procedure of design and development of speech inquire system based syllable similarity.

The lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) is an interactive surface for cancer cells. This article aims to explore cancer cell-induced changes of LEC, and study the tumor-lymphatic endothelium interaction. Here, LECs were co-cultured with highly and poorly metastatic tongue cancer cells. The differences in biologic behaviors and gene expression profiles between them were examined. The results showed that LECs induced by highly metastatic cancer cells displayed abnormal biologic behaviors, and could secrete chemokines to promote the migration of cancer cells. Therefore, biologic properties and functional status of LECs in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) might be a positive factor in lymphatic dissemination.

Recently, mobile IPv6 has been standardized to provide seamless roaming for mobile users in IPv6 network. However, current IP networks are predominantly based on IPv4 technology and most of the firewalls have been designed for these networks. These firewalls will interfere in the smooth operation of mobile IPv6 and can be a detriment to deployment. In this paper, we propose a mobile IPv6 firewall traversal scheme integrating with AAA protocol. By defining several diameter extension messages between the AAA server and firewall, the firewall policies can be adjusted dynamically to provide the mobile IPv6 entities with transparent communication. The solution requires neither any modification of mobile IPv6 protocol nor to add special network components. Furthermore, the scheme is based on hierarchical network model and taking AAA factors into consideration. Therefore, it suits the operation mode of many service providers as well

In order to achieve a gearless construction for the wind energy conversion system, a low speed multi-pole generator is required, and consequently, the large number of stator slots is needed to construct the multi-pole windings. How to design the multi-pole stator winding using the less number of slots in the limited size of the stator core is a big issue for the low speed generator design. A new winding structure with more poles and less slots is adopted to solve the problem that the number of slots is normally larger than the number of poles for the conventional machine design. This paper introduces the design features of a direct driven permanent magnet wind power generator (DPMWG) with the rated power in the region of 10-50 kW, which can be either grid connected or stand alone to provide AC power to the users

The rotor of a typical wind turbine rotates at a speed of 20-100 rpm. In conventional wind power plants the generator is coupled with the turbine via a gearbox so that it can rotate at a speed of 1000 r/min or higher. However, the gearbox brings weight, generates noise, needs regular maintenance and increases losses. There is currently a great deal of interest in directly driven generators. In a directly driven, low-speed wind generator no gears are needed and these disadvantages can be avoided. This paper introduces the control system of a permanent magnet (PM) generator direct driven by a variable speed wind turbine with rated power in the region of 10-50 kW. The wind generator can be either grid connected or stand alone as a distributed power supply. The system design, control strategy and implementation method based on the PIC single-chip-computer for a practical 20 kW PM generator direct driven by wind turbine are introduced in detail. The dynamic performance simulation results under optimal power control during the wind speed variation are presented

A novel multimode fiber-optic differential pressure sensor based on a rotating reflector is described. This sensing technique can automatically compensate the influence of source fluctuation, the losses in the input fiber, and the changes in reflectivity of the reflecting surface. Furthermore, if all the fibers are in one cable and subject to the same bending, much of the noise associated with fiber-bend losses will also be cancelled out. By the symmetric compensation principle, a pair of pressure-transfer devices was used in the fiber-optic differential pressure transducer, which can automatically compensate the effect of temperature on the sensor. To test this transducer, a prototype sensor has been constructed and the test results are given here.

Background The Real-time PCR Array System is the ideal tool for analyzing the expression of a focused panel of genes. In this study, we will analyze the gene expression profile of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia with real-time PCR arrays. Methods Real-time PCR array was designed and tested firstly. Then gene expression profile of 11 pediatric AML and 10 normal controls was analyzed with real-time PCR arrays. We analyzed the expression data with MEV (Multi Experiment View) cluster software. Datasets representing genes with altered expression profile derived from cluster analyses were imported into the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis Tool. Results We designed and tested 88 real-time PCR primer pairs for a quantitative gene expression analysis of key genes involved in pediatric AML. The gene expression profile of pediatric AML is significantly different from normal control; there are 19 genes up-regulated and 25 genes down-regulated in pediatric AML. To investigate possible biological interactions of differently regulated genes, datasets representing genes with altered expression profile were imported into the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis Tool. The results revealed 12 significant networks. Of these networks, Cellular Development, Cellular Growth and Proliferation, Tumor Morphology was the highest rated network with 36 focus molecules and the significance score of 41. The IPA analysis also groups the differentially expressed genes into biological mechanisms that are related to hematological disease, cell death, cell growth and hematological system development. In the top canonical pathways, p53 and Huntington’s disease signaling came out to be the top two most significant pathways with a p value of 1.5E-8 and2.95E-7, respectively. Conclusions The present study demonstrates the gene expression profile of pediatric AML is significantly different from normal control; there are 19 genes up-regulated and 25 genes down-regulated in pediatric AML. We found some genes dyes-regulated in pediatric AML for the first time as FASLG, HDAC4, HDAC7 and some HOX family genes. IPA analysis showed the top important pathways for pediatric AML are p53 and Huntington’s disease signaling. This work may provide new clues of molecular mechanism in pediatric AML.

We investigate epitaxy of AlN layers on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that an atomically flat surface can be obtained under Al-rich conditions at growth temperature of 780°C. However, the growth window to obtain an Al-droplet-free surface is too narrow to be well-controlled. However, the growth window can be greatly broadened by increasing the growth temperature up to 950°C, where an Al-droplet-free surface with a step-flow feature is obtained due to the enhanced re-evaporization rate and migration ability of Al adatoms. The samples grown at the higher temperature also show a higher crystalline quality than those grown at lower temperatures.

A erbium-doped fiber ring laser, which utilizes a single-stage polarization-independent acousto-optic tunable filter by use of quasi-collinear coupling as the tuning component, is proposed and a continuously tunable lasing wavelength is realized. The filtering principle of the polarization-independent quasi-collinear filter is introduced briefly, and then the compensation of frequency-shift is analyzed. The experimental results are that the output power of the laser pumped at 13 mW is measured to be 322 μW at a lasing wavelength of 1550 nm, the threshold pump power is 7.65 mW, and the slope efficiency is 6.02%; the tuning range of 38 nm, starting from 1524.7 nm ending at 1562.4 nm, is observed.

Based on self-imaging effect and overlapping-imaging properties of multimode interference couplers, the phenomenon of fully destructive interference of overlapping-images in MMI couplers is revealed, for the first time. The condition for overlapping-image fully destructive interference is derived. From the point of view of overlapping-image fully destructive interference, we explain the paired interference and the symmetric interference. The expressions of the positions and number of output images for two especial overlapping-images are also given. We prove that this kind of phenomena exists not only in the paired interference and the symmetric interference by way of an example. The influence of the positional number on the fully destructive interference images is also analyzed. And the guided-mode propagation analysis method is used to confirm the analytical results.