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Immunoparalysis is a common cause of death for critical care patients with sepsis, during which comprehensive suppression of innate and adaptive immunity plays a significant pathophysiological role. Although the underlying mechanisms are unknown, damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) from septic tissues might be involved. Therefore, we surveyed sera from septic patients for factors that suppress the innate immune response to DAMPs, including adenosine triphosphate (ATP), monosodium urate, and high mobility group box-1. Macrophages, derived from THP-1 human acute monocytic leukemia cells, were incubated with each DAMP, in the presence or absence of sera that were collected from critically ill patients. Secreted cytokines were then quantified, and cell lysates were assayed for relevant intracellular signaling mediators. Sera from septic patients who ultimately did not survive significantly suppressed IL-1β production only in response to extracellular ATP. This effect was most pronounced with sera collected on day 3, and persisted with sera collected on day 7. However, this effect was not observed when THP-1 cells were treated with sera from survivors of sepsis. Septic sera collected at the time of admission (day 1) also diminished intracellular levels of inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate and cytosolic calcium (P < 0.01), both of which are essential for ATP signaling. Finally, activated caspase-1 was significantly diminished in cells exposed to sera collected on day 7 (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the sera of septic patients contain certain factors that persistently suppress the immune response to extracellular ATP, thereby leading to adverse clinical outcomes.

A Faraday isolator based on magnetically biased graphene is proposed and analyzed. The isolator consists of two rectangular waveguides, two circular-rectangular transitions and a circular cylindrical waveguide loaded multiple graphene sheets, with a static magnetic field which parallel to the signal transmission direction biased. The principles of the isolator have been investigated using the mode-matching technique. The isolation is calculated by the signal flow diagram combined with the transmission matrix method. The theoretical results show that its isolation is more than 30 dB in the working frequency (1.8 GHz–2.2 GHz). The isolation can be tuned by varying the chemical potential or varying the magnetic field. The novel isolator has a simple structure and a wider bandwidth compared to the conventional Faraday isolator. Simultaneously the transmission direction of the isolator can be changed easily by changing the direction of the magnetic field.

Structured light-based 3D sensing techniques has been an important means for 3D digitization of real objects. However, to obtain a complete 3D model of target, multiple scans are demanded and that makes the operation time-consuming. In this paper, an efficient 3D scanning system is introduced, which is composed of two structured light sensors. The two sensors are placed in opposite directions, and the target is placed between them. With a single scan operation, two point clouds can be obtained and aligned by the proposed system calibration parameters. For some objects with relative simple geometry like human hands, a complete 3D model can be obtained via single scan. But regarding to complex targets, by changing the target orientation several times and using the proposed point cloud registration method, complete 3D model can be obtained more efficiently. Experiments with different objects are implemented to verify feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method.

Objective The association between ELP4 rs986527 polymorphism and the occurrence and development of intracranial arachnoid cyst was studied in this paper. Methods Eighty‐five patients diagnosed with intracranial arachnoid cysts by cerebral computed tomography scan were selected. Sixty‐three healthy volunteers for medical examination in hospitals served as controls. The cognition, depressive symptoms, and the likelihood of headache, dizziness, head trauma history, dementia, depression, and epilepsy were assessed. ELP4 genotypes and its allele frequency were determined by PCR, endonuclease restriction analysis, and gel electrophoresis. Results ELP4 rs986527 had three genotypes: TT, TC, and CC. The intracranial arachnoid cyst group showed no statistically significant difference in genotype frequencies compared with healthy controls. There was no significant correlation between ELP4 rs986527 polymorphism and location of intracranial arachnoid cyst. TC and C genotype frequencies were associated with a higher incidence of clinical symptoms than TT genotype frequencies, and C allele frequencies were associated with a significantly higher incidence of clinical symptoms compared with T allele frequencies. There was no significant difference in TNF‐α and IL‐1β levels between TT/TC/CC genotypes before treatment. After treatment, the levels of TNF‐α and IL‐1β were significantly decreased in different genotypes, and the decrease in CC was the greatest. The frequency of TT and TC genotypes was higher than that of CC genotypes. Conclusion ELP4 rs986527 polymorphism affected the incidence of clinical symptoms and the levels of TNF‐α and IL‐1β in patients with intracranial arachnoid cysts., Intracranial arachnoid cysts with a high prevalence. In this paper, we investigated the association between elongator protein complex 4 (ELP4) rs986527 polymorphism and the occurrence and development of intracranial arachnoid cysts.

Spoof surface plasmon polaritons based notch filter for ultra-wideband microwave waveguide is proposed. Owing to subwavelength confinement, such a filter has advantage in the structure size without sacrificing the performance. The spoof SPP based notch is introduced to suppress the WLAN and satellite communication interference simultaneously. Both the cutoff frequency and the notch frequency are sensitive to the structure parameters, and the cut-off frequency can reach 20 GHz. An adiabatic transition relying on gradient hole-size and flaring ground is designed to effectively couple energy into spoof SPP waveguide. The result shows its cut-off frequency of 17.4 GHz with the insertion loss better than 3 dB during the whole pass-band, while having more than 20 dB rejections at 5.36 GHz and 9.32 GHz with 10 dB fractional bandwidth 1.07% and 0.74% respectively to avoid the existing WLAN and satellite communication signals. Due to planar structures proposed here, it is easy to integrate in the microwave integrated systems, which can play an important role in the microwave communication circuit and system.

Filter characteristics of a planar Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure composed of periodically thin corrugated metal films were studied here. From theoretical simulation, spoof surface plasmon polaritons can propagate along the periodically thin corrugated metal films in microwave frequency, which can be excited by a coplanar waveguide. When the two arms of the MZI have the same length with the angle between them being 60°, the MZI structure has a very wide bandwidth with 8.6 GHz. By changing the length of one of the interference arms, a novel low-pass filter based on the planar MZI structure with two notched frequencies was proposed. The proposed planar structure can find potential applications in developing surface wave devices in integrated microwave circuits and systems.

Background. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a common disease with high morbidity and mortality around the world. The aim of this research was to determine the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which may serve as potential therapeutic targets or new biomarkers in AMI. Methods. From the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, three gene expression profiles (GSE775, GSE19322, and GSE97494) were downloaded. To identify the DEGs, integrated bioinformatics analysis and robust rank aggregation (RRA) method were applied. These DEGs were performed through Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses by using Clusterprofiler package. In order to explore the correlation between these DEGs, the interaction network of protein-protein internet (PPI) was constructed using the STRING database. Utilizing the MCODE plug-in of Cytoscape, the module analysis was performed. Utilizing the cytoHubba plug-in, the hub genes were screened out. Results. 57 DEGs in total were identified, including 2 down- and 55 upregulated genes. These DEGs were mainly enriched in cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, chemokine signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and so on. The module analysis filtered out 18 key genes, including Cxcl5, Arg1, Cxcl1, Spp1, Selp, Ptx3, Tnfaip6, Mmp8, Serpine1, Ptgs2, Il6, Il1r2, Il1b, Ccl3, Ccr1, Hmox1, Cxcl2, and Ccl2. Ccr1 was the most fundamental gene in PPI network. 4 hub genes in total were identified, including Cxcl1, Cxcl2, Cxcl5, and Mmp8. Conclusion. This study may provide credible molecular biomarkers in terms of screening, diagnosis, and prognosis for AMI. Meanwhile, it also serves as a basis for exploring new therapeutic target for AMI.

This study investigated the application effect of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and enhanced CT in diagnosis of liver cancer and response evaluation of radiofrequency ablation (RFA). A total of 60 patients with liver cancer were selected in Dongying People's Hospital from April 2016 to May 2017. All patients were subjected to CEUS and enhanced CT. With pathological examination as the gold standard, diagnostic consistency of the two methods was compared. After RFA, patients were subjected to CEUS and enhanced CT to assess the efficacy, and the consistency was compared. There was no significant difference in diagnostic accuracy between CEUS and CT (p>0.05). Area under the ROC curve of CEUS was 0.896, with a sensitivity of 91.2% and a specificity of 88.7%. The area under the ROC curve for enhanced CT diagnosis was 0.907, with a sensitivity of 91.8% and a specificity of 89.7%. No significant difference in the maximal cross sectional area of lesions was found between CEUS and enhanced CT, and there was no significant difference in evaluation of therapeutic efficiency between the methods (p>0.05) before and 1 and 3 months after treatment. Bland-Altman test showed that there was a strong consistency between CEUS and enhanced CT in the measured maximum cross-sectional area of lesions at 1 and 3 months after treatment. Linear regression analysis showed that maximum section cross-sectional area measured by CEUS was significantly correlated with that detected by enhanced CT (r2=0.617). The results suggested that diagnostic efficiency of CEUS was similar to that of enhanced CT, and both showed high sensitivity and specificity. Two methods showed high consistency in evaluating the curative effect of RFA. CEUS can achieve real-time observation of focal blood flow perfusion, and was more economically affordable and convenient.

With the Xuhui District primary school, Sunshine Sports League advances each year, but also exposes some problems, such as the cup’s quality and size are different, and some schools are lack of science and innovation in the arrangement system. These problems seriously hinder the Xuhui District Sunshine Sports League to carry out extensive. Therefore, this study will focus on the existing problems, and analysis of main factors affecting the sustainable development of sunshine sports, find out the crux of the problem, on the basis of expert interview, on-the-spot investigation, literature review and other methods. This paper puts forward a series of policy and recommendations to the long-term mechanism of sunshine sports quality education requirements, and seeks "in Xuhui District primary school sports sustainable development" New Sunshine Sports League development model, and meet the students' sports demand. The formation of new sports culture has the characteristics of Xuhui District, and promotes the students' healthy sustainable and healthy and harmonious development of primary and secondary schools in Xuhui District.

Sediment cores from the Dashiwei Tiankeng reach of the Bailang underground river were collected and analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The concentrations of total PAHs ranged from 35.34 to 280.17 ng/g (mean 107.65 ng/g), and the concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene ranged from 1.78 to 175.74 ng/g (mean 35.94 ng/g). Analyses on molecular markers inferred that the PAHs were sourced mainly from wood and coal combustion before 1998, but there were obvious petroleum and petroleum combustion inputs after 1999. The PAHs profile indicated that the Bailang underground river was polluted by two major events. One was steel smelting in the 1950s, and the other was rapid economic development in the 1990s. The relationship between the PAHs and the sediment organic matter (SOM) in the profile was negative. Factors that impacted the SOM contents in sediment core included vegetation, agriculture crops, wood and fossil fuel burning, and soil erosion caused by construction. The sediment cores from the Bailang underground river reflected the economic development of the region.

Graphene has many novel properties such as the ability of guiding plasmonic wave at terahertz (THz) frequencies, chemical potential shift as the carrier density changed. Since carrier density of graphene can be modified by bias voltage, the coupling coefficients or propagation loss of graphene plasmon can be modulated easily. A compact wideband terahertz modulator is proposed to modulate and guide plasmonic waves. The surface plasmon polariton (SPP) propagation and the modulation depth in the graphene biased structure are numerically investigated. The proposed THz plasmonic modulator has a wide working band about 1 THz and its modulation depth reaches about 76% at the frequency of 8 THz, which have potential application in THz communication.

Cylindrical launcher is widely used on the battlefield. Characteristic is easy handling, facilitate multigang outfit, cluster launch, emission rate and better generalization and standardization, etc. This paper mainly studies the thermal emission process of a cylindrical launch, the unsteady numerical simulation of the process, using computational fluid dynamics software GAMBIT and FLUENT, and the concept of dynamic grid and updating method of a certain type of cylindrical equipment vertical thermal emission process. Through to the launcher unsteady numerical simulation of the flow field of the guide surface pressure distribution contours, which lay a foundation for the study of the structure of this type of equipment. At the same time it is for the equipment launcher applicability related research to provide the reference.

Parallel coupled filter based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons is presented in this letter. Designed on a thin dielectric substrate, the ultrathin metallic structure is composed of rectangle drilled hole metal strip. A planar spoof SPPs parallel coupled resonator has been integrated into the drilled hole metallic strip to produce narrow. We simulate the parallel coupled filter in microwave frequency band. The simulate results show that the filter has two narrow pass-band, the equivalent relative bandwidth (6.8%), the central frequency (5.9 GHz), the insertion loss is above −3dB in the passband from 5.7 to 6.1 GHz, and the equivalent relative bandwidth (2.3%), the central frequency (17.1GHz), the insertion loss is above −3dB in the passband from 16.9 to 17.3GHz. Due to planar structures proposed here, it is easy to integrate in the microwave integrated systems, which can play an important role in the microwave communication circuit and system.

Spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) are highly confined surface electromagnetic waves, which can be supported by subwavelength periodic metal structure. According to the theory of sinusoidally modulated reactance surface (SMRS), SSPPs could be transformed into directional leaky-wave radiation through wavenumber modulation. In this paper, we propose a method to suppress the sidelobe level of the plasmonic leaky-wave antenna by designing a non-uniform sinusoidally modulated plasmonic waveguide composed of double edge corrugated metallic strip. A low sidelobe plasmonic leaky-wave antenna has been designed by controlling the amplitude of SSPPs to be a taper distribution on the aperture of plasmonic waveguide. Furthermore, an unsymmetrical SSPPs waveguide is designed by staggering corrugated grooves on two sides with μ/4 offset to increase the radiation efficiency at broadside. Both numerical simulations and experimental results have good agreements, which show that this method is effective to reduce the sidelobe of leaky-wave radiation by using non-uniform sinusoidally modulation of the plasmonic waveguide.

The plasmonic waveguide made of uniform corrugated metallic strip can support and guide spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) with high confinements. Here, we propose periodically-modulated plasmonic waveguide composed of non-uniform corrugated metallic strip to convert SSPPs to radiating waves, in which the main beam of radiations can steer continuously as the frequency changes. To increase the radiation efficiency of the periodically-modulated plasmonic waveguide at the broadside, an asymmetrical plasmonic waveguide is further presented to reduce the reflections and realize continuous leaky-wave scanning. Both numerical simulations and experimental results show that the radiation efficiency can be improved greatly and the main beam of leaky-wave radiations can steer from the backward quadrant to the forward quadrant, passing through the broadside direction, which generally is difficult to be realized by the common leaky-wave antennas.

A microwave power divider based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons was presented here. The proposed divider was composed of two different sizes of periodic circular hole array metal strips on a substrate with relative dielectric constant of 3.3, loss angle of 0.003 and thickness of 0.76 mm. Compared to rectangular hole and rectangular groove, the dispersion curve of circular hole was more deviated from the light line and the cut-off frequency was lowest. The simulated results show the S21 and S31 of the power divider are equal and about 3dB with the cut-off frequency of 10.8 GHz which means the input power is divided into two outports equally. According to the planar structure, the proposed divider has some significant advantages such as high confinement, adjustability and easy integration which can play an important role in the microwave communication circuits and systems.

In 2010, a new rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) variant, designated RHDV2, was identified for the first time in Italy. Studies have shown that RHDV2 differs from RHDV1 (traditional RHDV) in terms of its antigenic profile and genetic characteristics. The VP60 protein of RHDV is a structural protein that plays important roles in viral replication, assembly, and immunogenicity. In this study, we immunized BALB/c mice with recombinant VP60 proteins from different RHDV subtypes. After three rounds of subcloning, type-specific positive hybridoma clones of RHDV1 and RHDV2 were further identified by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blotting, and an indirect immunofluorescence assay. Finally, three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) (1D6, 1H2, and 3F2) that only recognize RHDV1, and four MAbs (1G2, 2C1, 3B7, and 5D6) that only recognize RHDV2 were identified. The epitopes recognized by these MAbs were mapped by Western blotting. Sequence analysis showed that the epitope sequences recognized by 1D6, 1H2, and 3F2 are highly conserved (98%) among RHDV1 strains, whereas the epitope sequences recognized by 1G2, 2C1, 3B7, and 5D6 are 100% conserved among RHDV2 strains. The high conservation of the epitope sequence showed that the screened MAbs were type-specific, and that they could distinguish different RHDV subtypes.

Although organic light-emitting devices have been commercialized as flat panel displays since 1997, only singlet excitons were emitted. Full use of singlet and triplet excitons, electrophosphorescence, has attracted increasing attentions after the premier work made by Forrest, Thompson, and co-workers. In fact, red electrophosphorescent dye has already been used in sub-display of commercial mobile phones since 2003. Highly efficient green phosphorescent dye is now undergoing of commercialization. Very recently, blue phosphorescence approaching the theoretical efficiency has also been achieved, which may overcome the final obstacle against the commercialization of full color display and white light sources from phosphorescent materials. Combining light out-coupling structures with highly efficient phosphors (shown in the table-of-contents image), white emission with an efficiency matching that of fluorescent tubes (90 lm/W) has now been realized. It is possible to tune the color to the true white region by changing to a deep blue emitter and corresponding wide gap host and transporting material for the blue phosphor. In this article, recent progresses in red, green, blue, and white electrophosphorescent materials for OLEDs are reviewed, with special emphasis on blue electrophosphorescent materials.

Spoof surface plasmon polaritons(SSPPs) are kind of highly confined surface waves, which can be supported by corrugated metallic strips at microwave frequencies. In this letter, an omnidirectional antenna utilizing periodically modulated double-edge corrugated metallic strips has been proposed, in which the depths of grooves are designed periodically to modulate wave number. The designed SSPPs antenna radiates at 55° from z-axis at 9.3GHz with the directivity of 12.2dBi. Simulation results show that the radiation beam is omnidirectional in azimuth plane and frequency steerable in elevation plane.

The objective of this study was two-fold: 1) to investigate the changes of cytokines concentration in relation to severe aplastic anemia (SAA) when treated with immunosuppressants combined with cord blood (IS + CBI). and 2) to assess the curative effect of umbilical cord blood chimerism engraftment.We selected 43 patients with SAA all treated with IS + CBI (newly diagnosed group). Among them, a total of 33 patients were treated effectively (effective group) while 10 cases were treated invalidly (invalid group). An additional 20 healthy individuals were selected as control (control group). The expression levels of IL-17, IL-22 and other cytokines in each group were detected by ELISA. The engraftment of cord blood stem cells was detected by using short tandem repeat-polymerase chain reaction (STR-PCR).1. IL-17, IL-22 and other cytokines expressions in the newly diagnosed group were significantly higher than in the control group. 2. After six months, the levels in the effective group were significantly lower than pre-therapy levels (P0.05). The levels in the invalid group did not differ to those observed prior treatment. 3. After one and three months of treatment, a small amount of engraftment was found in the effective group. However, after six months, transplant rejection was observed in all patients. No effective engraftment was observed in the invalid group.1) Th17 and Th22 producing cells in SAA patients significantly increased indicating a positive correlation between these biomarkers and the progression of SAA. 2) During the IS + CBI treatment the maintenance of a normal hematopoietic function depended on immunesup-pressants. Early umbilical cord blood chimerism engraftment may promote hematopoietic recovery.

Survivin is an independent prognostic factor for joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the expression and function of survivin in RA synoviocytes remain unclear. We certified the expression of survivin in RA synovial tissues and performed the experiment using RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (RA-FLS) treated with siRNA. As a result, the expression levels of wild type (WT) survivin and the 2B splice variants in RA synovial tissues were higher than those in osteoarthritis tissue samples, and, these variants were highly expressed in RA-FLS. The expression levels of survivin-WT and -2B in the RA-FLS were upregulated by PDGF. Treatment with siRNA against survivin-2B led to decreased viability of PDGF-treated RA-FLS due to cell cycle suppression and apoptosis promotion, while the siRNA against all survivin isoforms did not affect the viability. Moreover, an overexpression of survivin-2B in RA-FLS led to cell proliferation through cell cycle activation and by conferring resistance to apoptosis. In conclusion, survivin-2B has an important role in RA-FLS proliferation. These data suggest that survivin-2B might contribute to rheumatoid synovial hyperplasia and have the potential as a novel therapeutic target for RA.

We propose a kind of anisotropic planar metasurface, which has capacity to manipulate the orthogonally-polarized electromagnetic waves independently in the reflection mode. The metasurface is composed of orthogonally I-shaped structures and a metal-grounded plane spaced by a dielectric isolator, with the thickness of about 1/15 wavelength. The normally incident linear-polarized waves will be totally reflected by the metal plane, but the reflected phases of x- and y-polarized waves can be controlled independently by the orthogonally I-shaped structures. Based on this principle, we design four functional devices using the anisotropic metasurfaces to realize polarization beam splitting, beam deflection and linear-to-circular polarization conversion with a deflection angle, respectively. Good performances have been observed from both simulation and measurement results, which show good capacity of the anisotropic metasurfaces to manipulate the x- and y-polarized reflected waves independently.

Cardiac, Vascular & Thoracic Surgery Associates, P.C., 2921 Telestar Court, Falls Church, VA 22042, USA An aneurysm is a focal, localized dilation of an artery having at least a 50% increase in diameter compared with the expected normal diameter of the artery in question [1]. The prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is 1.8% to 6.6% based on autopsy studies. The rate rises after the age of 55, and is more common in males than females by an 8:1 ratio. It is also more common in Caucasians. In the 50-year-old to 75-yearold male age group, the prevalence of aneurysms O4 cm is 1.4%. The yearly incidence of AAA is 21 per 100,000. Smoking continues to be the most important risk factor, and is associated with 78% of aneurysms. Hypertension, arterial occlusive disease, and familial genetics are also associated risk factors. The average aneurysm enlarges at a rate of 0.4 cm per year [2]. Aneurysm rupture is the cause of death of 1.2% of males and 0.6% of females in the United States, or roughly 15,000 deaths annually, and is the 13th leading cause of death in the United States. Approximately 30,000 AAAs are repaired each year [3], and 10% of these are ruptured AAAs. The mortality rate after rupture has not improved since the first reported open repair in 1951. Only 50% of patients arrive at the hospital and, of these, less than 50% survive. Overall mortality rate ranges from 78% to 94%. Aneurysms that are less than 4 cm have a less than 1% risk of rupture, aneurysms that are 4 cm to 4.9 cm have a 1% per year risk of rupture, aneurysms that are 5 cm to 5.9 cm have an 11% per year risk of rupture, and aneurysms that are 6 cm to 6.9 cm have a 26% per year risk of rupture [4]. In comparison, the mortality rate for elective open repair has steadily declined. Currently accepted 30-day mortality rates are less than 5%. This has been attributed to a combination of not only improved patient selection but also improved preoperative evaluation and optimization, anesthesia, intraoperative and perioperative monitoring, surgical technique, and critical care understanding. Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) have a yearly incidence of 5.9 per 100,000. It is more common in males than females by a 2:1 ratio. Aneurysms of the aortic arch expand an average rate of 0.56 cm per year, whereas aneurysms of the descending thoracic aorta expand at 0.42 cm per year. Overall mortality of ruptured thoracic aneurysms is as high as 94%, and only 11% make it to the operating room. Operative mortality approximates 50% [2].

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a connective tissue disorder caused by abnormal collagen synthesis. Vascular complications, including aneurysm formation and spontaneous arterial perforations, are difficult to manage surgically and result in significant operative mortality due to blood vessel fragility. We describe the first reported successful endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in a patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. We discuss the advantages endovascular surgery offers over open surgery in these patients. We believe that endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms preferentially over open repair merits consideration in patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Sentence similarity computation is the research topic of domain of natural language processing, and plays an important role in the example-based machine translation, information retrieval, text mining and other fields. Those sentence similarity algorithms have different applicability in different environments. This paper reviewed and analyzed five kinds of sentence similarity algorithm, and tested them in the field of text copy detection. In the end, the effect of different sentence similarity algorithms to the result of text copy detection was analyzed and evaluated.

In nine rhesus monkeys, human corneal grafts were used for penetrating keratoplasty in one eye of each. The data were divided into three groups according to the size of grafts. Group 1 (n = 3) received 5.5-mm human corneal grafts in 5.0-mm recipient beds; group 2 (n = 3) received 6.2-mm human corneal grafts in 6.0-mm beds; and group 3 (n = 3) received 7.5-mm grafts in 7.0-mm beds. Five of nine eyes in groups 1 and 2 (55%) maintained graft clarity for more than 1 year, but only two of the three in group 1 maintained clear human corneal grafts for 32 and 36 months, respectively. However, the three grafts in the third group maintained transparency for only 4-7 months. Our findings suggest that xenogeneic corneal grafts may have a greater success rate in humans than previously believed.

The endovascular management of blunt aortic injuries is being used more frequently in the trauma patient. Traumatic aortic injuries usually occur in the descending thoracic aorta near the origin of the left subclavian artery. Many reports in the literature demonstrate the efficacy of endovascular repair of blunt thoracic aortic injury. We report here an unusual case of abdominal aortic dissection secondary to blunt abdominal trauma following a fall. The patient also had associated intra-abdominal injuries requiring bowel resection and repair of small bowel mesenteric lacerations. He was treated with a bifurcated abdominal endograft with an excellent result after the initial operation was performed to treat the bowel injuries.

Combining the outputs of several neural networks into an aggregate output often gives improved accuracy over any individual output. The set of networks is known as an ensemble. This work presents an ensemble method for regression that has advantages over simple weighted or weighted average combining techniques. Generally, the output of an ensemble is a weighted sum whose weights are fixed. Our ensemble is weighted dynamically, the weights dynamically determined from the predicting accuracies of the trained networks with training dataset. The more accurate a network seems to be of its prediction, the higher the weight. This is implemented by generalized regression neural network. Empirical results show that this method improved on predicting accuracy.

A 54-year-old man who underwent uneventful orthotopic heart transplantion 1 year previously had low-grade fever and dyspnea. Imaging studies revealed an ascending aortic pseudoaneurysm (AAP), which was repaired with a 5-mm polyester patch, with circulatory arrest and cardiopulmonary bypass. Intraoperative cultures of the AAP grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , and the pseudoaneurysm recurred after 6 weeks despite intravenously administered antibiotic therapy. A 28.5-mm × 3.3-cm Gore Excluder aortic cuff was deployed in the ascending aorta through a left axillary artery cutdown with use of combined transesophageal echocardiography and fluoroscopy. In addition, controlled hypotension and asystole were established with administration of adenosine to facilitate precise device deployment. Postoperative imaging with transesophageal echocardiography and magnetic resonance angiography revealed complete resolution of the AAP, and the patient had done well at 7-month follow-up. Treatment of a mycotic aortic pseudoaneurysm with an endoprosthesis in a patient without other treatment alternatives can be performed safely, with acceptable short-term results.

Combining the outputs of several neural networks into an aggregate output often gives improved accuracy over any individual output. The set of networks is known as an ensemble. Neural network ensembles are effective techniques to improve the generalization of a neural network system. This paper presents an ensemble method for regression that has advantages over simple weighted or weighted average combining techniques. After the training of component neural networks, genetic algorithm is used to optimize the combining weights of component networks. Compared with ordinary weighted methods, the method proposed in this paper achieved high predicting accuracy on five test datasets.

Broadband circular and linear polarization conversions have been proposed in the paper by using thin birefringent reflective metasurfaces, which are composed of two orthogonal I-shaped structures placed on the top of a printed circuit broad with grounded plane on the bottom. We show that the metasurface manipulates the reflective phases of two orthogonal linearly-polarized waves independently by changing the dimensions of I-shaped structure. Hence, the polarization states of a linearly-polarized incident wave with normal incidence can be manipulated as desired after reflected by the anisotropic metasurface. Two polarization conversions have been presented by using such thin birefringent reflective metasurfaces: from linearly-polarized wave to circularly-polarized wave, and from linearly-polarized wave to cross-polarized wave. The metasurfaces work at microwave frequency, and the axial ratio better than 1dB is achieved within fractional bandwidth of 15% for circular polarization. Numerical and experiment results demonstrate good polarization conversions in a broad frequency band, which have excellent agreements with the theoretical calculations.

A high triplet energy (ET = 3.2 eV) electron transporting/hole blocking (ET/HB) material, 1,2,4,5-tetra(3-pyrid-3-yl-phenyl)benzene (TemPPB) with a super twisted structure and high thermal stability has been synthesized. An external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 19.6% was achieved by using TemPPB as the ET/HB material in a blue electrophosphorescent device, much higher than the EQE of 12.5% for the device using the conventional ET material, 3-(4-biphenyl)-4-phenyl-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,2,4-triazole (TAZ). In addition, the weak ET property of TemPPB resulting from its super twisted structure can be enhanced via n-type doping with LiF. An EQE of 24.5% was achieved by combining n-type doping and a double-emission layer. This shows an alternative way to design ET/HB materials with high ET and improved thermal stability for blue electrophosphorescent devices.

The engineering feasibility of pumping deep seawater has been achieved by using a simplified mathematical model. It was proved that the pumping power required to draw seawater from deep sea is always less than 100 kW (134 h.p.) for pipe diameters below 15 cm and mass flowrate lower than 100 tons/hr, which is suitable for mariculture farmings, and the replacement of warm surface seawater by cold deep seawater as nuclear power plant coolant is technically feasible for pipes with diameters larger than 150 cm and intake levels below 600 m. This model can be further extended to study the performance of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system onshore. Continuation of this study should be the design of deep seawater prototype pumping system, the construction of pilot plants of cooling applications and mariculture experiments, and the feasibility analysis of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion power plants.

Objective Reports continue to document the occurrence of major adverse events after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair. Although many of these problems can be successfully managed through endovascular salvage, operative conversion with explantation of the endoprosthesis remains necessary in some patients. We report herein a review of all patients initially enrolled in multicenter US clinical trials of the Excluder endograft who underwent secondary conversion to open surgical repair. Methods Clinical data and relevant medical records of patients enrolled in phase I and II multicenter US clinical trials of the Excluder endograft were retrospectively reviewed for adverse events and further narrowed to those patients who underwent secondary operative conversion. Hospital records, operative and anesthesia reports, and all imaging studies were analyzed at initial implantation and at the time of subsequent open surgical repair. Results Late open conversion was performed in 16 (2.7%) of the 594 patients enrolled in the Excluder clinical trials. Presumed endotension accounted for 8 of 16 of secondary conversions. In two of these patients, however, an endoleak was identified at the time of open surgical repair. Of the remaining eight patients, two underwent conversion for device infection, five for persistent endoleak, and one for aneurysm rupture. The overall 30-day mortality was 6.25% (1/16), with one death occurring in a patient with a ruptured aneurysm. Of patients who underwent conversion because of endotension, the maximal abdominal aortic aneurysm diameter (mean ± SD) at the time of initial implantation and subsequent graft removal was 61 ± 11 mm and 70 ± 10 mm, respectively. The mean time to open conversion for treatment of endotension was 37 ± 12 months (range, 20-50 months; median, 42 months). Freedom from conversion was 98.6% and 96.7% at 24 and 48 months, respectively. Conclusions Endotension in the absence of a demonstrable endoleak has been a major indication for late surgical conversion in patients treated with the Excluder endograft. Given the potential presence of an undetected endoleak and the possible effects of progressive sac enlargement on long-term device stability, continued close surveillance of patients with assumed endotension is required. Should changes in device design eliminate endotension, a further reduction in the already low incidence of late open conversion of the Excluder endograft can be anticipated.