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Background Major depression is the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide and poses a socioeconomic burden worldwide. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a promising noninvasive clinical device that may reduce the severity of major depression. However, the neural mechanism underlying continuous tVNS has not yet been elucidated. Objective We aimed to explore the effect of hypothalamic subregion functional connectivity (FC) changes during continuous tVNS treatment on major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and to identify the potential biomarkers for treatment outcomes. Methods Forty-one mild to moderate MDD patients were recruited and received either real or sham tVNS treatment for 4 weeks. We used a seed-to-whole brain approach to estimate the FC changes of hypothalamic subregions and their surrounding control areas during continuous tVNS treatment and explored their association with clinical outcome changes after 4 weeks of treatment. Results Of the thirty-six patients that completed the study, those in the tVNS group had significantly lower scores on the 24-item Hamilton Depression (HAM-D) Rating Scale compared to the sham tVNS group after 4 weeks of treatment. The FC between the bilateral medial hypothalamus (MH) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) was significantly decreased during tVNS but not during sham tVNS. The strength of this FC was significantly correlated with HAM-D improvements after 4 weeks of tVNS. Conclusion The FC between the bilateral MH and rACC may serve as a potential biomarker for the tVNS state and predict treatment responses. Our results provide insights into the neural modulation mechanisms of continuous tVNS and reveal a potential therapeutic target for MDD patients.

Calorie restriction can modulate the gut microbiota and protect against many diseases including ischemic stroke. However, the role of calorie-restriction-induced microbiota alteration remained unknown in ischemic stroke rehabilitation. Here we conducted 30% reduction of caloric intake on mice for four weeks, to evaluate its role on ischemic stroke rehabilitation. Significantly, this calorie restriction led to better long-term rehabilitation in comparison of normal control. Notably, the transplantation of gut microbiome from calorie-restriction-treated mice to post-stroke mice was eligible to obtain better long-term rehabilitation of stroke mice. Bifidobacterium identified by 16 S ribosomal RNA sequencing were enriched in those of calorie-restriction mice. Then we administrated Bifidobacterium to stroke mice and found Bifidobacterium treatment could successfully improve the long-term rehabilitation of cerebral ischemia mice. Furthermore, the metabolomics analysis revealed a panel of upshifting metabolites, suggesting that calorie restriction greatly altered the gut microbiota composition and its metabolism. Hence, we discovered the novel effect of CR on long-term rehabilitation of ischemic stroke and the underlying role of gut microbiota, which might provide novel thoughts for the clinical post-stroke rehabilitation.

To investigate gender differences of the associations between hyperuricemia and diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) based on electronic health records (EHR).A total of 20,207 older diabetic patients (mean age 71±7years) were investigated based on the EHR from 2012 to 2013 in the Minhang District of Shanghai-China. The status of hyperuricemia, albuminuric DKD and the odds ratios of DKD relative to hyperuricemia were analyzed among 8541 men and 11,666 women.The overall rate of hyperuricemia was 20.5% (males: 17.2%, females: 23.0%) and that of albuminuric DKD was 36.2% (males: 32.2%, female: 39.1%) in these diabetic patients. Hyperuricemia was independently associated with increased risk of reduced renal function and albuminuria (p0.001) in both genders. After adjustment of traditional DKD risk factors, hyperuricemia had a stronger association with albuminuric DKD in males (OR 1.67, 95% CI: 1.48-1.88) than in females (OR 1.23, 95% CI: 1.12-1.35).This study showed an independent association of hyperuricemia with albuminuric DKD that was stronger in elderly males for the first time in China based on EHR. The level of uric acid should be monitored and managed in older diabetic patients.

Strain controlled uniaxial low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests of P92 steel were conducted at strain amplitudes of 0.4%, 0.6% and 0.8% in fully reversed manner with strain rate of 1.0×10-3s-1 at high temperature of 650 °C. Cyclic softening behavior was studied and time-independent cyclic plasticity model was used to represent the cyclic mechanical behavior of this steel. Material parameters were determined step by step at higher strain amplitude of 0.8%, experimental data with lower strain amplitude were used to validate the extrapolation of the model. Comparison of the simulated and experimental results shows that the proposed model can give a reasonable prediction of stress-strain hysteresis loop for P92 steel at high temperature.

In this study, experimental and the finite element (FE) methods are utilized to investigate residual stresses of a multi-pass butt-welded 12Cr1MoV/P91 dissimilar pipe. X-ray technique is used to validate the FF results. Both methods show that residual stresses are significantly unsymmetrical distributed with respect to weld center line (WCL), and peak stresses exist on the inner surface of P91 part. The simulated results are especially in good greement with experimental ones within the weldment and its vicinity. Results for repair welds covering different circumferential angular are also presented to investigate the influence of repair length on residual stresses. It shows the shorter repair develops higher residual stresses, and this effect is more significant within the repairing area than the other regions.

Low Reynolds number aerodynamics is important for various applications including high altitude unmanned vehicles, wind turbines and propellers. Few researches were concerned on this area. Low Reynolds number (60000,100000,300000,460000) flows around Eppler387 airfoil of different angles of attack (0°~12°) were simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Transition shear-stress transport (SST) model which combined with the SST model and the model was demonstrated. Simulation results show good agreement with the experimental data. The model is able to predict the position of low Reynolds laminar separation bubbles and display the complex phenomenon of the flows, which can form the basis for solving boundary layer separation problem and designing of airfoil.

OBJECTIVES:: To present a method for image fusion of cone beam CT (CBCT)/CT and MRI and to explore whether the image data sets fused in such a way could aid the detection of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) anatomical structures and lesions. METHODS:: There were five cases included in this study. One case was space occupying lesion giant cell tumour of tendon sheaths, one case was chronic inflammation in the condyle, one case was articular disc calcification of the bilateral TMJs, and the other two cases were TMJ disorders (anterior disc displacement without reduction). The digital imaging and communications in medicine format data of CT/CBCT and MRI of the cases were collected, and then imported to the Amira visual software where the registration process was conducted. Based on the different scan model, the registration process could be separated into automatic registration of CT/CBCT with quadrature slice MR images and the semi-automatic registration of CT/CBCT with oblique slice MR images by altering the registration parameters. Rigid transform model and the similarity metric of normalization mutual information was used for registration in the present study. RESULTS:: The relationship between the soft mass and hard tissue was shown clearly in the fused images when compared to sole observation of CBCT/CT or MR images. The fused images could define the tumour outline and the destructive bone clearly in the same image. The fused results helped the observers to ensure uncertain defects which could not be confirmed only by one image data set. CONCLUSIONS:: The CT/CBCT and MR images could be fused to aid detection of TMJ anatomical structures and related lesions. ispartof: DENTOMAXILLOFACIAL RADIOLOGY vol:48 issue:3 ispartof: location:England status: published

In this paper, the differential equations of the steel rope shock absorber are established under the basic excitation, using the Fourier series expansion method and the Harmonic balance method, the corresponding frequency response equations are derived, then their numerical solutions is got, and the influence of the mass, damping, stiffness, and hysteretic force on the frequency response characteristic is analyzed under the basic excitation. It can be drawn by analyzing and comparing. Under the basic excitation, with the basic simplified mass increasing, the natural frequency will decrease, while the resonance amplitude will increase. With the steel rope damping, stiffness and the foundation damping increasing, the natural frequency will not change significantly, while the resonance amplitude will decrease. With the foundation stiffness increasing, the natural frequency and the resonance amplitude will increase significantly. The equipment mass and steel rope hysteretic force have no significant effect on the frequency response characteristics.

The experimental advanced superconducting Tokamak has two suits of ion cyclotron radio frequency heating systems, in which the two antennas are of different structures. Their performance is assessed and compared by CST microwave studio. The radiating capacity of antennas and the arcing around them are estimated. The impurity release is analyzed by the radio frequency (RF) potential in the plasma sheath. The simulation results show that the radiating capacity for the folded antenna (I-port) is better than those for the double loops antenna (B-port). However, the folded antenna is worse than the double loops antenna in terms of breakdown. Moreover, the impurity production is relevant to spectrum shaping. The RF potential at (0, π, π, 0) phasing with the peak of spectrum k // = 8.5 m−1 is lower than the one with other phases. The impurity is reduced obviously when the folded antenna is powered with (0, π, π, 0) phasing.

Interrupt handling in out-of-order execution processors requires complex hardware schemes to maintain the sequential state. By managing the interaction with external systems through effective use of interrupts can dramatically improve system efficiency and the use of processing resources. The actual process of determining a good handling method can be complicated, challenging and fun. Numerous actions are occurring simultaneously at a single point and these actions have to be handled fast and efficiently. The paper will provide a practical guide to designing an interrupt handler and discuss the various trade-offs between the different methods. The interrupt handling process of S3C2410X is described, normally, S3C2410X interrupt controller requests interrupt from kernel interrupt FIQ or IRQ of S3C2410X after the interrupt arbitration. The experiment purpose and experiment equipment is detailed listed. Finally, the author explored into the experiment principle and experiment procedure.

LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment used by millions of engineers and scientists to develop sophisticated measurement, test, and control systems using intuitive graphical icons and wires that resemble a flowchart. It offers unrivaled integration with thousands of hardware devices and provides hundreds of built-in libraries for advanced analysis and data visualization, all for creating virtual instrumentation.The paper discussed the main features of virtual instrumetation and listed the main industrial applications. The research and analysis is the key function of LabVIEW software and has been detailed summarized. Finally, the author discussed the future development of LabVIEW software.

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical and radiographic features of osteoarthrosis (OA) of the temporomandibular joints (TMJOA) in human adolescents and young adults. Study design Patients (n = 4883) with temporomandibular disorders (age, 11 to 30 years) underwent clinical and radiographic examinations. The radiographic findings were classified as erosive bony changes, proliferative changes mainly, including flattening with uneven sclerosis, and osteophytes of the condyle, and bilaterally short condylar processes. In addition, we interpreted the reassessment radiographs of 156 of the patients. Results Seven hundred eleven patients had radiographic signs of OA. The frequency of OA was higher in women (563/3360, 16.8%) than in men (148/1523, 9.7%). Most patients (541/711, 76.1%) with signs of OA showed proliferative changes of OA. Moreover, 56.4% of patients with TMJOA (88/156) remained stable. Conclusions These results suggest that although OA is an age-related disease, aging is not the crucial factor in the pathogenesis of OA.

Background The prognostic significance of long-term visit-to-visit blood pressure variability (BPV) has not yet been validated in "real world" hypertensive patients. The aim of the current study is to explore the prognostic value of BPV on stroke in hypertensive patients. Methods This was a dynamic prospective cohort study based on electronic medical records in Shanghai, China. Hypertensive patients (N=122,636) without history of stroke at baseline, were followed up from 2005 to 2011. The cohort comprised of 4522 stroke patients and 118,114 non-stroke patients during a mean follow-up duration of 48months. BPV was measured by standard deviation (SD) and the coefficient of variation (CV) of blood pressure. Results The visit-to-visit variability of both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was independently associated with the occurrence of stroke [SD: the hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of SBP and DBP were 1.042 (1.021 to 1.064) and 1.052 (1.040 to 1.065); CV: the hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of SBP and DBP were 1.183 (1.010 to 1.356) and 1.151 (1.005 to 1.317), respectively]. The hazard ratio values increased along with an increase of the BPV levels of SBP and DBP. The increment effect remained significant after controlling the blood pressure control status of subjects. Conclusions Increased BPV of both SBP and DBP, independent of the average blood pressure, is a predictor of stroke among community hypertensive patients in real-world clinical practice. The risk of stroke increased along with increased BPV. Stabilizing BPV might be a therapeutic target in hypertension.

A new technique for wall conditioning that will be especially useful for future larger superconducting tokamaks, such as ITER, has been successfully developed and encouraging results have been obtained. Solid carborane powder, which is non-toxic and non-explosive, was used. Pulsed RF plasma was produced by a non-Faraday shielding RF antenna with RF power of 10 kW. The ion temperature was about 2 keV with a toroidal magnetic field of 1.8 T and a pressure of 3 × 10-1 Pa. Energetic ions broke up the carborane molecules, and the resulting boron ions struck and were deposited on the first wall. In comparison with glow discharge cleaning boronization, the B/C coating film shows higher adhesion, more uniformity and longer lifetime during plasma discharges. The plasma performance was improved after ICRF boronization.

To investigate whether Pi (Spleen) qi-deficiency affected psychological and neural responses in relevance to cognitive control. Pi qi-deficient and balanced participants were asked to perform the Stroop task, a classical cognitive control paradigm. In this paradigm, participants had to judge the color of the prompted word. The word’s meaning indicated the color (the consistent condition) or not (the inconsistent condition), or were unrelated to the color (the neutral condition). Electroencephalograph (EEG) was recorded during the task. Event-related potential (ERP) results showed that Pi qi-deficient individuals failed to exhibit a normal Stroop effect as Balanced individuals did, such as the accuracy differences between the consistent and the inconsistent conditions as well as the N450 effect (P>0.05). Meanwhile, Pi qi-deficient individuals displayed larger P2 and P3 amplitudes than balanced individuals did during performing the cognitive control task (P

Meteorological bulletin has more and more diversified, large scale, highly integrated requirements and potential demands from whole society. The strong professional efforts involved in transforming the variety of special meteorological data to natural language text are becoming more challenging in providing sophisticated and easily understood weather features. This paper presents a new Meteorological bulletin automatic generation method based on spatio-temporal reasoning. To enhance an exact and non-redundant description for complex meteorological data, and for special future tendency dynamics in emerged interesting areas. We also evaluate this method with real data from National Meteorological Center and prove that it's feasible and effective after implementing.

This paper presents an investigation into the use of process modeling to decibels complex processes in the healthcare sector, with reference to the process of Surgery and Registration in China. We argue that process models are generally useful as a means for understanding, analyzing and improving complex health processes. Also, we show that using these models it is possible to discover process bottlenecks and low-quality information, to identify cross-functional boundary problems, and to focus assessment of information quality in the various processes of the hospital.

High quality information has an important impact on improving hospital efficiency and patient satisfaction and resolving patient disputes. In this paper, on the basis of the analysis of the research status of information quality and process performance, information quality is considered as an important contribution factor to improve process performance. Then, the research framework and main content are presented. Through the establishment of quantitative information quality indicators, such as correctness, timeliness and completeness, the impact on process performance such as registered queue length, waiting time, utilization of hospital facilities as well as the cost of the treatment process is analyzed from the theoretical aspect, and then it is verified by simulation technology. Finally, the significance and feasibility of this study are clarified.

Hospitals are looking ways for providing quality services to its customers by reducing cost, increasing efficiency and by improving hospital processes. Under this situation, using processes modeling technique will be a new dimension and will be providing health care staffs a platform for the assessment of information quality situation, in the various processes of the hospital, processes management has to support process improvement objectives. This paper will detect many process quality information indicators for hospital, and modeling the assessment methods for process management and developing a hospital process management system (HPMS) based on information quality management.

The properties of folded waveguide (FWG) couplers are researched. Firstly, the electromagnetic fields inside and outside of the FWG are analyzed theoretically. After substituting the relevant data, numerical results and corresponding two-dimensional and three-dimensional wave field figures are achieved. Secondly, in our scale model, series of experiments are carried out. The coupling and matching between the antenna and the coaxial line are examined. The experimental results demonstrate that FWG antenna can be used in ion cyclotron range of frequencies heating in tokamak with high power coupling efficiency.

The present study evaluated the role of ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG)-located orphanin-FQ (OFQ) in the opioid tolerance induced by repeated microinjections of morphine (MOR) into vlPAG. Microinjection of MOR (5 µg/0.5 µl) into vlPAG caused antinociception as quantified with the tail flick and the hot plate tests. When MOR microinjection was repeated twice daily, the antinociceptive effect disappeared within 2 days (tolerance). However, if MOR microinjection was preceded by the OFQ receptor antagonist nocistatin (NST; 1 ng/0.5 µl), the microinjections of MOR did not induce tolerance. If NST microinjections were suspended, subsequent MOR microinjections induced tolerance. In MOR-tolerant rats, a single NST microinjection into vlPAG was enough to restore the antinociceptive effect of MOR. Furthermore, if OFQ (1 ng/0.5 µl) was microinjected into vlPAG, then a MOR microinjection administered 15 min later into vlPAG did not elicit antinociception. Finally, opioid tolerance induced by repeated systemic MOR injections (5 mg/kg, i.p.) was reversed by a single microinjection of NST into vlPAG. This emphasizes the central importance of vlPAG-located OFQ in the MOR tolerance.

It is well known that dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is one of the key structures for the development of opioid analgesia and tolerance. An increased activity of 'antiopioids' like orphanin-FQ (OFQ) has been proposed as a possible mechanism for opioid tolerance. The present study evaluates the role of DRN-located OFQ in the opioid analgesic tolerance induced by repeated microinjections of morphine (MOR) into DRN. Male rats were implanted with chronic guide cannulae aimed at the DRN. Microinjection of MOR (0.5 microg in 0.5 microl) into DRN caused antinociception as quantified with the tail flick and the hot plate tests. When MOR microinjection was repeated twice daily, the antinociceptive effect disappeared within 2 days (tolerance). However, if each MOR microinjection was preceded (within 15 min) by a microinjection of the OFQ receptor antagonist nocistatin (NST) (1 ng in 0.5 microl) into the same DRN site, the microinjections of MOR always produced antinociception and did not induce tolerance. If NST microinjections were suspended, subsequent MOR microinjections induced tolerance. In MOR-tolerant rats, a single NST microinjection into the same DRN site was enough to restore the antinociceptive effect of MOR. On the other hand, if OFQ (1 ng in 0.5 microl) was microinjected into DRN, then MOR microinjection administered 15 min later into the same DRN site did not elicit antinociception. Finally, opioid tolerance induced by repeated systemic MOR injections (5 mg/kg, i.p.) was reversed by a single microinjection of NST into DRN. This emphasizes the central importance of DRN-located OFQ in the MOR analgesic tolerance.

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to clarify the Doppler sonographic features of the facial artery in the anterior face in healthy volunteers and to investigate those of related hemangiomas. Study Design. Forty-six volunteers and 3 patients with hemangiomas were examined with Doppler sonography. The detection rates of the facial artery in the anterior face were determined. The features of the main trunk, superior and inferior labial branches, and the branches in the buccinator area were investigated together with the flow diameter, flow velocities, and resistive and pulsatility indexes. Results. The detection rates of the main trunk and superior and inferior branches were 100%, whereas that of the branches in the buccinator area was 92.4%. There were no significant differences in the measured values for all indexes between the right and left sides. However, there were significant correlations between right and left sides in the flow diameter and minimum velocity of the main trunk and in the flow diameter and pulsatility index of the superior labial branch. The Doppler sonographic features of the hemangioma were characterized as a hypoechoic area with internal and surrounding blood flows. Conclusions. Doppler sonography can clearly depict the facial artery and its branches in the anterior face, and this method appears to be useful in the follow-up examination of hemangiomas in this area. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2002;93:195-201)

Objective: The purpose of this study was to clarify the normal findings of arteries in and around the masseter muscle and to present their pathologic changes with the use of color Doppler sonography. Study Design: The vascular appearances were examined for the 4 main arteries feeding the masseter muscle in healthy volunteers (n = 38) and patients with inflammation (n = 5) and intramuscular hemangioma (n = 3). The features of these arteries were investigated together with the flow diameter, flow velocities, and arterial resistances. The symmetry indices were also calculated to assess the pathologic changes. Results: The detection rates of the branch from the transverse facial artery, the masseter artery, and the branch from the maxillary or external carotid artery were 98.7%, 21.1%, and 84.2% in healthy volunteers, respectively. The facial artery that feeds the muscle from the inferior part represented 2 patterns according to anatomic variant: the masseteric branch (22.4%) and the main trunk itself (77.6%). The means of the flow diameter, maximum and minimum velocities, resistive index, and pulsatility index in healthy subjects were 1.8 mm, 24.6 cm/s, 5.1 cm/s, 0.80, and 2.51, respectively. In most of the patients with symptoms, the symmetry indices of all measurement values increased in comparison with those of healthy volunteers. Conclusion: Color Doppler sonography is useful in describing the arteries in and around the masseter muscle and has the potential of being used to depict the pathologic changes. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2001;91:472-82)