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Objective. To establish the clinical safe and effective methods of arsenic-containing compound-Qinghuang Powder (compound-QHP) in the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Methods. 200 patients with MDS were treated with compound-QHP (daily dose of 0.1 g realgar). The blood arsenic concentrations (BACs) were detected by atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry (HF-AFS). After treatment for 1 month, the patients were randomly divided into group A and group B when the BACs were less than 20 μg/L. Daily dose of realgar was maintained in group A and it was increased to that when the BACs were more than 20 μg/L in group B. The BAC and clinical efficacy and safety in two groups were compared at the end of the treatment with compound-QHP. Results. The average BAC of group B was significantly higher than that of group A (P<0.01). The rates of hematology improvement and reduced transfusion were significantly higher in group B than in group A (P<0.05). The HGB, ANC, and PLT significantly increased in group B after treatment (P>0.05). Conclusions. Monitoring the BAC and adjusting the daily dose of realgar to increase the effective BAC and then improving efficacy without increasing the clinical toxicity are the clinical safe and effective methods in the treatment of MDS.

Jiao-Tai-Wan (JTW), has been usually used for insomnia in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The previous study shown that JTW was benefit for depression-like behavior, but the possible mechanism is not clear. This study is to determine whether JTW was benefit for the treatment of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression-like behavior in mice and explore its possible mechanism. All drugs were intragastrically administered once daily for 7 consecutive days. On the 7th day, LPS was injected into mice 30 min after drug administration. Behavioral tests were performed 24 h after LPS administration. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and nor-epinephrine (NE) levels in prefrontal cortex were determined by UPLC-MS. The protein expressions of NF-κB signaling in prefrontal cortex were determined by western blot. Behavioral tests were measured via tail suspension test (TST), forced swimming test (FST), sucrose preference test (SPT) and open field test (OFT). In addition, effects of JTW on the TNF-α induced depressive-like behavior were also examined. Pretreatment with JTW (4.2 and 8.4 g/kg) or fluoxetine (20 mg/kg) effectively attenuated LPS-induced upregulations of the serum TNF-α and IL-6 contents and JTW (4.2 and 8.4 g/kg) or fluoxetine (20 mg/kg) effectively increased the contents of 5-HT and NE compared with LPS-treated group. Meanwhile, the western blot analysis results indicated the correlation between the antidepressant activity of JTW and the regulation of NF-κB signaling in brain. Besides, JTW (4.2 and 8.4 g/kg) or fluoxetine (20 mg/kg) significantly shortened LPS-induced increases in immobility time of TST, FST and weakened the reduction of the sucrose preference in SPT without significant alterations of locomotor activity in OFT. Additionally, JTW effectively reversed the depressive-like behavior induced by TNF-α (0.1 fg/site, i.c.v.). Our findings indicated that Jiao-Tai-Wan (JTW) played an important role in monoaminergic response and anti-inflammation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mouse model, which may be therapeutically exploited to alleviate depression-like behavior.

Table S2. Primer sequences used in the study. (DOCX 18 kb)

Table S1. siRNAs sequences. (DOCX 15 kb)

GPR is a useful tool in non-destructive evaluation area. Time delay curve detection and target depth estimation are two key steps in GPR data processing procedure, as they can provide accurate target depth information, especially in multi-layer medium detection scenario. Traditional methods for time-delay curve are applicable to homogeneous medium and ideal environments. This paper presents a new time-delay curve extracting approximation hyperbola algorithm (TDC-AH) and target depth algorithm. By applying auto-detecting edge points criterion in detection scenario, an approximation hyperbola equation can be established and target depth can be estimated subsequently. Simulating experiment proves the proposed algorithm is suitable for multi-layer medium.

A new RF(radio frequency) stealth performance evaluation method of electronic equipment based on polarization status changing parameter is presented. By analyzing typical intercept receiving mechanism in electronic war, a key factor- the uncertainty of radiating signals of electronic equipment is extracted from “radiating-intercepting” scenario. A calculating formula is established to transfer this kind of uncertainty to RF stealth factor. This RF stealth factor can be used to evaluate electronic equipments RF stealth performance directly, without relying on traditional complex “radiating-intercepting” scenario. Simulation results show the effectiveness of this evaluation method.

Induction heating possesses wide application in surface hardening for steels. In recent years, the emergence of metal powder bonded magnetic flux concentrator (MPB-MFC) enables induction heating better capability, efficiency, and controllability, therefore the analytical understanding through modeling and simulation becomes necessary for process design and optimization. In this paper, the mechanism of the energy transformation in induction heating with magnetic flux concentrator is carried out. The MPB-MFC assisted induction heating for AISI 1045 steel is studied by comparing the finite element simulation with experimental results. The finite element model solves the coupled electro-magnetic-thermal computation problem, which also involves the consideration of the non-linear material magnetic properties in the process. To verify the simulation, middle-frequency induction heating experiments are conducted to compare with the simulated results. The comparison proves the efficacy of the FEM model, and discloses the inner-correlation of the thermal-magnetic-electric fields in the process.

Based on electromagnetic and temperature field models of nonlinear ferromagnetic materials, this paper conducts a finite element analysis of the induction heating process of PC steel bar, thus obtaining the change curves of temperature, active power, heating efficiency and power density. The main factors and mechanisms affecting the heating efficiency and the temperature uniformity are analyzed systematically by a combination of the simulation result and the experimental fact. This work is expected to contribute significantly for optimizing the key parameters of induction heating production of PC steel bar.

Sitting posture is the position in which one holds his/her body upright against gravity while sitting. Poor sitting posture is regarded as an aggravating factor for various diseases. In this paper, we present an inverse piezoresistive nanocomposite sensor, and related deciphering neural network, as a new tool to identify human sitting postures accurately. As a low power consumption device, the proposed tool has simple structure, and is easy to use. The strain gauge is attached to the back of the user to acquire sitting data. A three-layer BP neural network is employed to distinguish normal sitting posture, slight hunchback and severe hunchback according to the acquired data. Experimental results show that our method is both realizable and effective, achieving 98.75% posture identification accuracy. This successful application of inverse piezoresistive nanocomposite sensors reveals that the method could potentially be used for monitoring of diverse physiological parameters in the future.