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Two biosorbents were prepared using bamboo powder modified with mercaptoacetic acid and carbon disulfide, which exhibits strong adsorption properties for Cu2+ and Ni2+. The obtained materials were characterized by FTIR. Maximum adsorption for both metals was found to occur around pH 5.0–6.5. The kinetic data followed the pseudo-second-order model. The maximum adsorption capacities of Cu2+ and Ni2+ on mercaptoacetic acid modified bamboo powder determined from Langmuir isotherm were 103.97mg g−1 and 61.35mg g−1, respectively. While on carbon disulfide modified bamboo powder were 128.21mg g−1 and 56.82mg g−1, respectively. The adsorption mechanism analysis revealed that the most possible adsorption mode of Cu2+ was coordination, and Ni2+ was ion exchange. The obtained adsorbents could effectively remove Cu2+ and Ni2+ from industrial electroplating wastewater and could be used repeatedly for more than five cycles.

In this paper, experiments are conducted by machining from different crystallographic orientations of monocrystalline silicon, and the effects of crystallographic orientation on the micro electrica...

Rationale Angelman syndrome (AS) is an uncommon genetic disease characterized as serious retarded mental development and ocular abnormality. Patient concerns This report aims to present the ophthalmological features, and identify the diagnosis and outcomes of strabismus surgery in AS patients. Diagnosis Three children with exotropia were diagnosed with AS based on their typical clinical features. Interventions All patients underwent multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) analysis and accepted lateral rectus recession surgery with the assistance of intravenous combined inhalation anesthesia. Outcomes The maternal heritage deletion of chromosome 15q11.2-q13 was verified in all patients by MLPA. All patients with strabismus could not cooperate during the vision test, and had astigmatism. The strabismus type of AS patients was horizontal exotropia, and no vertical strabismus was found. One of these patients was combined with high myopia. The hypopigmentation on the hair and iris was ubiquitous. However, retina pigmentation was normal. After different degrees of lateral rectus recession, the exotropia was significantly relieved, and the surgical effects were stable postoperatively. Lessons Horizontal exotropia is the major strabismus type. Severe intellectual disability, hyperactivity, and speech impairment are the common characteristics of AS children. Its examination and operation design remains challenging. Thus, repeated examinations and intelligence rehabilitation are essential.

Chemical looping co-gasification of pine wood and polyethylene with CaO/Fe2O3 oxygen carrier was preliminarily conducted in a fixed bed reactor and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The effects of Fe2O3 /biomass mass ratio, temperature and steam/biomass mass ratio on the product distribution (syngas yield, H2/CO ratio and cold gas efficiency) during the pine wood chemical looping gasification were investigated. Results showed that the optimal product distribution was obtained at the gasification temperature of 850 °C with the Fe2O3/feedstock ratio of 0.25 and steam/biomass mass ratio of 0.25. The interactions of pine wood and polyethylene were further studied. It was found that the positive or even the synergetic effects existed, which resulted in the enhancement of syngas and hydrogen yield. The optimal addition of 75% polyethylene increased H2 yield from 0.62 Nm3/kg to 1.59 Nm3/kg compared to the pine wood chemical looping mono-gasification. Chemical looping co-gasification also improved the cold gas efficiency from 77.22% to 89.30% and H2/CO ratio from 1.54 to 1.88. The CaO/Fe2O3 mass ratio of 1.0 was sufficient to elevate the H2/CO ratio above 2. The maximum H2 yield of 1.73 Nm3/kg, cold gas efficiency of 92.23% and H2/CO ratio of 2.09 were finally obtained to meet the demand for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The presence of synergetic effects on syngas and hydrogen yield from the fixed bed data but their absence from the TGA data revealed the interaction mechanism could be attributed to gas phase reformation and cracking reactions.

Micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) has been widely applied in the field of precision machining, but the machining mechanism is still unclear. In this paper, the relationship between the characteristics of discharge plasma and discharge duration is clarified by analyzing the formation and expansion process of the discharge plasma channel under micro-scale discharge conditions. Based on the experimental results, the effects of discharge duration on the discharge current, discharge voltage and discharge crater size are discussed. The results show that the expansion acceleration, internal pressure, temperature, and electron density of the discharge plasma decrease as the discharge duration increase, while the radius and expansion velocity of the discharge plasma increase, and finally the discharge plasma reaches the state of shape&ndash, position equilibrium. The resistance of discharge plasma is estimated to fluctuate in the range of 38&ndash, 45 &Omega, by the ratio of discharge maintenance voltage to discharge current. The energy utilization rate of micro-EDM is very high when discharge duration is less than 4 &mu, s, and then decreases gradually as the discharge duration increased. There is a positive linear relationship between discharge crater volume and discharge duration. The discharge duration has no significant effect on the discharge crater depth. This study provides a theoretical basis for further study of discharge plasma characteristics in micro-EDM.

A sensing device composed of an eccentric core photonic quasi-crystal fiber based on surface plasmon resonance is designed using indium tin oxide (ITO) as the sensitive materials. The ITO film is deposited on the outside surface of the fiber to excite plasmonic interactions and facilitate refractive index (RI) detection. This eccentric core structure makes the evanescent field coupled effectively with analyte to achieve higher sensitivity. The influence of RI and structural parameters of different analytes on sensor performance was calculated by the finite-element method. In the analyte RI range between 1.33 and 1.39, the wavelength sensitivity reaches 21,100 nm/RIU, and the average sensitivity of 8750 nm/RIU is achieved at a resolution of 4.739×10−6 RIU. The sensor has large potential in the detection of unknown RI analytes in the near-infrared region.

SUMMARYRapid and efficient dynamic stability control has been one of the important motivations in legged robot research, especially for legged robots running at high speed and/or on rough terrain. This paper presents a feasible control strategy, named Hybrid Feedback Control (HFC), for running systems based on the spring-loaded inverted pendulum principle (SLIP). The HFC strategy, which comprises two modules (i.e., touchdown angle control and energy compensation), predicts and regulates touchdown angle of the current cycle and need-to-complement energy input of the next cycle through hybrid feedback of flying apex state. This strategy can significantly reduce the computational complexity and enable the system to quickly converge to its control target, meeting the requirements of real-time control. Simulation experiments on various terrains were conducted to verify the adaptability of our HFC strategy. Results of these simulation experiments show that the approach herein can realize the periodical stability control of SLIP systems on different terrain conditions quickly and effectively.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant type of primary brain tumor in adults and can diffusely infiltrate adjacent normal tissue. GBM is therefore rarely cured by surgery or radiation therapy. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are involved in tissue remodeling and numerous other physiological progresses. The MMPs MMP-2 and MMP-9 are associated with the invasion ability of GBM. PT93 is a novel caffeic acid amide derivative that was first synthesized in 2013. In the present study, the human GBM T98G, U87 and U251 cell lines and the normal mouse neuron HT22 cell line were used to investigate the anticancer and cytotoxic effects of PT93 in vitro. The cytotoxicity of PT93 was measured using MTT and lactate dehydrogenase assays. The anti-proliferation effect was tested using a cell colony formation assay. Gelatin zymography analysis and a scratch test were used to investigate the anti-migration mechanism of PT93. Western blot analysis was used to measure the expression of MMP-2/-9. The experimental results showed that PT93 suppressed the proliferation of T98G cells, and showed cytotoxicity effects at high concentration in T98G, U87, U251 and HT22 cell lines. Furthermore, PT93 limited the migration ability of the cells and inhibited the extracellular MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity of T98G and U251 cells. Finally, the present study confirmed that PT93 affects the level of MMP-2/-9 expression in T98G cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The present study indicates that PT93, as a novel caffeic acid amide derivative, may be used in the treatment of GBM.

The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of CM082 on the development of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in a laser-induced CNV rat model and to determine the drug concentration in the ocular tissues. After the laser-induced CNV model was established in rats, CM082 was orally administered. The effects of CM082 on the CNV lesions were assessed using fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), CNV histology, and retinal pigment epithelium- (RPE-) choroid-sclera eyecup analysis. The concentrations of CM082 in the plasma and eye tissues were determined using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results of FFA, histology, and RPE-choroid-sclera eyecup analysis demonstrated that the CM082-treated (10 mg/kg/d or 30 mg/kg/d) rats exhibited significantly less neovascularization than did the control group. The total concentration of CM082 in the eyes (172.86 ± 57.11 ng/g) was similar to that in the plasma (196.87 ± 73.13 ng/ml). Within the eye, the concentrations of CM082 and its metabolites were highest in the retina-sclera. The orally administered CM082 thus effectively passed through the blood-retina barrier (BRB) to reach the retina in the Brown Norway rats. Therefore, at both 10 mg/kg/d and 30 mg/kg/d, CM082 was able to reduce CNV lesions in the laser-induced CNV rat model.

We study a delay-sensitive information flow problem where a source streams information to a sink over a directed graph G(V,E) at a fixed rate R possibly using multiple paths to minimize the maximum end-to-end delay, denoted as the Min-Max-Delay problem. Transmission over an edge incurs a constant delay within the capacity. We prove that Min-Max-Delay is weakly NP-complete, and demonstrate that it becomes strongly NP-complete if we require integer flow solution. We propose an optimal pseudo-polynomial time algorithm for Min-Max-Delay, with time complexity O(\log (Nd_{\max}) (N^5d_{\max}^{2.5})(\log R+N^2d_{\max}\log(N^2d_{\max}))), where N = \max\{|V|,|E|\} and d_{\max} is the maximum edge delay. Besides, we show that the integrality gap, which is defined as the ratio of the maximum delay of an optimal integer flow to the maximum delay of an optimal fractional flow, could be arbitrarily large.

Backgroud: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness of the elder people. This research was intended to demonstrate the different expression of microRNAs (miRNA) in AMD patients and whether they can be used as biomarkers for AMD. Methods: MiRNAs expression was measured by microarray of 6 AMD cases and 6 gender matched controls. In a larger-sample case-control study with 126 AMD cases and 140 controls, whole blood samples were detected for the differences of miRNA expression. Results: A total of 216 differentially expressed miRNAs (111 increased and 105 decreased miRNAs) were detected from circulating miRNA microarray. Expanded case-control study results showed that the expression of miR-27a-3p, miR-29b-3p and miR-195-5p was increased significantly. Moreover, the level of miR-27a is higher in patients with wet AMD compared to patients with dry AMD. All 3 miRNAs showed a potential diagnostic value for AMD. Conclusion: Circulating miRNA levels were significantly varied in AMD patients. Three miRNAs, miR-27a-3p, miR-29b-3p and the miR-195-5p, might be potential diagnostic biomarkers for AMD.

Background The ocular presentation of Castleman’s disease (CD)-associated paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP) has rarely been reported. In this report, we describe a young patient with CD-associated PNP who had recurrent corneal ulceration in addition to cicatrizing conjunctivitis. Case presentation We describe a case of 23-year-old male with mucocutaneous erosion and conjunctival injection and erosion who was found to have PNP. Pelvic hyaline-vascular CD was detected and completely excised. The mucocutaneous lesions improved postoperatively. Two years after pelvic surgery, the patient gradually developed conjunctival symblepharon in both eyes and pterygium in the right eye. The patient then underwent a successful exclusion of the symblepharon, an excision of the pterygium and an amniotic membrane transplantation in the right eye. However, after 6 months, he experienced an aseptic corneal ulcer and recurrent pterygiumin the right eye. After treatment with systemic and local immunosuppressive medications, the corneal ulcer gradually healed and remained stable. Conclusion Corneal ulceration and melting, in addition to conjunctivitis, as a complication of CD-associated PNP, can be successfully managed with systemic and local immunosuppressants.

Liu QY, He MM, Shi H, et al. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2015;9: 2527–2535.In “Efficacy and safety of different doses of a slow release corticosteroid implant for macular edema: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials” published May 2015, on page 2530, in Table 1 we have mistakenly stated the fluocinolone acetonide (FA) intravitreal inserts as Retisert® in the Campochiaro et al study; they were in fact the fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal inserts. We feel sorry about that, and we will be more rigorous to avoid any unnecessary confusion in the future.Read the original article

A vector sensor has the capability of obtaining the acoustic field involving the sound pressure and three-dimensional particle velocities simultaneously, which means that there exists a potential to extract deep information for further applications like direction of arrival (DOA), positioning, classification, geoacoustic inversion, etc. This paper applies a nonlinear Bayesian approach to the pressure gradient data for geoacoustic properties of South China Sea, about which the experiment took place in July of 2013 in South China Sea of nearly 90 m depth. Recorded linear frequency modulation (LFM) signals of the pressure and vertical particle velocity are windowed and processed together to estimate the pressure gradient in the vertical direction at multiple frequencies as the observation data. After the optimal sediment model is selected based on BIC (Bayesian Information Criterion) using adaptive simplex simulated annealing (ASSA), delayed rejection adaptive Metropolis (DRAM), a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling method, is used not only to provide a maximum a-posteriori (MAP) parameters estimates but also to quantify the parameters uncertainties and inter-parameter relationships. [Work supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 61531012).]

Since scanning electron microscopy was used to study diatoms, many new ultra-structural features have been observed. This paper describes Cymbella distalebiseriata, a new species of Cymbella which has valves with biseriate striae near both apices of the valve and uniseriate striae at the valve centre. Comparison with some similar taxa supports its erection as new by the following combination of characters: two to three stigmata, puncta density 25–30 in 10 μm, and ca. 3 to 11 biseriate striae at both apices. C. distalebiseriata is epilithic and lives in freshwater habitats.

Lateral impact disturbances upon a legged running locomotion can result in the generation of an unexpected lateral velocity, consequently cause the deviation of the locomotion from its original direction of movement, even falling down to destroy the system. Dealing with the influence of lateral impact disturbances greatly increases the complexity of control in 3D space. Inspired by biomechanical studies, this paper constructs a control strategy based on the spring-loaded inverted pendulum principle (SLIP) for legged locomotion under lateral impact disturbances. This strategy, named 3D-HFC, is composed of three core modules: touchdown angle control, body attitude angle control and energy compensation. The first module regulates the forward/lateral running velocities such that lateral velocity recovers to zero after impact, the second maintains the body posture without being influenced by external forces, and the third compensates energy loss to ensure a desired hopping height. These three parts operate commonly to achieve the APEX state variables converging to the desired value in each running cycle, so as for the system to keep stable periodic motion. The simulations of running systems bearing different force impacts are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the 3D-HFC strategy, indicating that the proposed approach can reject impact disturbances effectively.

Methylene blue (MB) can ameliorate behavioral, neurochemical, and neuropathological impairments in animal models of acute and chronic neurodegenerative disorders, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2D) is known to promote neuronal survival in several models, and several survival and death signals converge on MEF2D and regulate its activity. Here, we investigated the role of MEF2D in the neuroprotective effect of MB against glutamate-induced toxicity in HT22 neuronal cells. Our results showed that MB, event at less than 100 nM, improved the viability of HT22 cells exposed to 2 mM glutamate. MB attenuated the mitochondrial impairment and quenches the reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by glutamate. Surprisingly, MB at 50–200 nM did not affect the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, an important endogenous anti-oxidative system. Further study showed that MB increased the transcription and translation of MEF2D. In addition, MB upregulated the expression of mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 6 (ND6) in a MEF2D-dependent manner. Knockdown of MEF2D abolished both MB-medicated increase of ND6 and MB-induced neuroprotection against glutamate-induced toxicity. Moreover, we showed that MB promoted Akt function activity, suppressed GSK-3β activity, and increased MEF2D level in hippocampus of mice and HT22 cells. These findings for the first time demonstrate that MB protects HT22 neuronal cells against glutamate-induced cell death partially via the regulation of MEF2D-associated survival pathway.

Survival of patients with glioblastoma (GBM) remains poor, and novel treatment methods are urgently needed. In this study, we tested the effects of a combination of fasudil, a ROCK inhibitor, and clioquinol, an 8-hydroxyquinoline derivative with antimicrobial properties, on human GBM U87 cells. Combination treatment synergistically inhibited the viability of glioma cells but not mouse normal neuron HT22 cells and significantly induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. Moreover, the combination was also found to trigger macro-autophagy (henceforth referred to as autophagy) by increasing the expression levels of several proteins involved in the induction of autophagy. Further studies showed that 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or chloroquine (CQ), two autophagy inhibitors, abrogated the cytotoxic effects of the combination treatment as well as the autophagy. Overall, we demonstrated that fasudil and clioquinol show synergistic anti-cancer effects, providing evidence for the further development of combination therapy for GBM.

S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy) hydrolase is an enzyme that regulates biomethylation and some other physiological processes. Recombinant AdoHcy hydrolase was overexpressed inE. coli JM109 and purified with ion exchange and gel filtration chromatographies. The effects of copper ions (Cu2+) on the activity of AdoHcy hydrolase were investigated and the results showed that Cu2+ inhibited the enzyme’s activity by a concentration and time-dependent process. The inhibition constant (Ki) and the apparent rate constant (kapp) were calculated to be (14 ±4) nmol · L−1 and (1.08 ±0.15) min−1, respectively. The existence of the natural substrate Ado could to some extent prevent Cu2+ from inactivating the enzyme, suggesting that copper ions possibly could compete with the natural substrate on enzyme’s substrate binding site. Further studies on the mechanism of inhibition are being carried out.

Internal flows of pure vapor experiencing film condensation on the bottom wall of an inclined (horizontal to vertical) channel and the inside wall of a vertical cylinder are studied. The annular flow regime considered here has turbulent (or laminar) vapor in the core and thin laminar condensate on the wall. Both smooth and wavy interfaces are considered. We propose a theory which yields a new general asymptotic form of interfacial shear, addresses solvability of the governing equations, gives the solution of the equations near the point of onset of condensation and facilitates implementation of one- or two-dimensional numerical schemes for the entire flow. The results, in a suitable limit, are shown to be in excellent agreement with a classical exact solution. We implement a one-dimensional numerical solution scheme to assess popular interfacial shear models and heat transfer correlations. These assessments, based on comparison of computational p:redictions with data from well-known experiments, identify two potentially good interfacial shear models which can be further developed for greater reliability.

Increase of world population and continuation of industrialization increase energy requirement. Meeting these requirements with fossil based fuels increase greenhouse gas emissions, cause environment-air pollution and global warning. Environment-friendly biogas output and utilization which decrease production input gains. importance in meeting energy requirement in agricultural enterprises. Dairy cattle manure and maize silage are the common substrates for anaerobic digestion in agricultural enterprises. In this study, biogas production in anaerobic digestion is studied under mesophilic conditions for 60 days. Laboratory scale experiments were performed on the digestion of dairy cattle manure and maize silage at different mixing rate. The results showed that co-digestion of dairy cattle manure and maize silage have positive effects on biogas production and methane content of biogas. The highest biogas production was measured at the DM 6% content and the manure:silage rate 3:1. Also, the highest methane content was measured at the highest silage rate.

To review the research progress of articular cartilage scaffold materials and look into the future development prospects.Recent literature about articular cartilage scaffold for tissue engineering was reviewed, and the results from experiments and clinical application about natural and synthetic scaffold materials were analyzed.The design of articular cartilage scaffold for tissue engineering is vital to articular cartilage defects repair. The ideal scaffold can promote the progress of the cartilage repair, but the scaffold materials still have their limitations.It is necessary to pay more attention to the research of the articular cartilage scaffold, which is significant to the repair of cartilage defects in the future.

Objective To analyze the imaging findings of ovarian thecoma and to better understand the tumor features based on aspect of computed tomography and magnetic resonance images. Methods Nineteen ovarian thecomas confirmed by histopathologic examination were analyzed retrospectively. Image characteristics were analyzed and compared with those of the pathologic features. Results The mean diameter of tumors was 9.6 cm. The masses were well defined (n = 17) or ill defined (n = 2) and appeared solid with cystic areas (n = 11), entirely solid (n = 4), or cystic with solid components (n = 4). On T2-weighted/spectral adiabatic inversion recovery (T2WI/SPAIR) images, 12 cases appeared isointense or slightly hyperintense. Of the 12 cases, 8 had patchy hypersignal areas. On computed tomographic images, 7 cases showed hypodensity or isodensity. All tumors exhibited mild enhancement. On pathologic examination, the tumor was composed of spindle cells with a moderate amount of cytoplasm. Conclusion Imaging manifestations of ovarian thecoma are various and nonspecific. However, a large, well-defined mildly enhanced solid mass with cystic areas and especially isointense or slightly hyperintense on T2WI/SPAIR sequence in pelvic cavity may suggest the diagnosis of ovarian thecoma.

Both spatial and seasonal variation of turbulent diapycnal mixing in the subtropical northwestern Pacific are evaluated by employing a fine-scale parameterization method based on profiles of potential density, which are obtained from CTD measurements during our recent hydrographic surveys implemented by the China National Key Basic Research Project from 2008 to 2010 and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment. Over smooth seafloor, the value of diffusivity away from the boundary is comparable with the values observed in the stratified midlatitude ocean interior, i.e., O (10(-5) m(2) s(-1)). On the other hand, enhanced diapycnal mixing, i.e., O (10(-4) m(2) s(-1)) or larger has been found over rough topography such as the Central Basin Trough, Okidaito Ridge, the origin of the Kuroshio Current, and especially Luzon Strait, which might result from dissipation of baroclinic energy generated when barotropic tides rub over rough topography. Over flat bathymetry, mixing is probably stirred by the wind work on near inertial motions in the upper 600 m and enhanced downward propagating energy has been found in the presence of anticyclonic eddies, which points to the important role of anticyclonic eddies in enhancing the diapycnal mixing at greater depth. The diffusivity also displays a distinct seasonal variation with strong (weak) mixing corresponding to strong (weak) wind-input energy in winter (summer), which, however, is only confined to upper 600 m. This is different from the midlatitude northwestern Pacific, where seasonality of diffusivity can be found at 1500-m depth.

The straw stalk source will be one of a future renewable energy source development direction. In recent years, straw-compression molding technology is being regarded highly by the nation. China mainly for “open-style” compression molding pilot study aims to explore the engineering application of the general laws of compression molding. The foreign key is mainly a “closed” the compression formation mechanism research, the theory quite is perfect. Both of these studies to dynamic compression molding play a positive role in promoting. By studying the compression molding method, craft, technology and burning characteristics of SDBF ect, Make straw molding at a lower pressure, to reduce energy consumption and prolong the life of molding equipment.

This paper presents a method based on LVQ neural network license plates recognition technology. The LVQ network structure is simple; however, it has stronger robustness and effectiveness. Experiment proves that adopting this method of identifying license plate has high reliability and recognition ability.

We report on 2 children with Burkitt's lymphoma accompanied by extensive extranodal involvement treated with chemotherapy and Rituximab in combination with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (Auto-PBSCT) regimens. No obvious side effects could be seen during the Rituximab therapy. Both children achieved complete remission with no relapse after being followed up for 4.3 and 4 years, respectively. Our limited experience show that Rituximab in combination with chemotherapy and Auto-PBSCT might have better therapeutic effects on Burkitt's lymphoma of children and the side effects of Rituximab therapy is minimal and can be well tolerated.

To investigate the relation between the quantitative assessment of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features and the correlation with histology and functional recovery by using the rabbit sciatic nerve crush model.In New Zealand, 32 rabbits were randomly divided into 2 groups (group A and B); all rabbits underwent crushing injury of their left sciatic nerve. In group A (n = 16), the sciatic nerves were crushed by using microvessel clamps with a strength of 3.61 kg. In group B (n = 16), the sciatic nerves were crushed with a strength of 10.50 kg. Right sciatic nerves were served as controls. Serial MRI of both hind limbs in each rabbit was performed before and at the time point of 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after crushed injury. The MRI protocol included T1-weighted spin-echo (T1WI), 3 dimension turbo spin-echo T2-weighted (3DT2WI), T2-weighted turbo spin-echo images with spectral presaturation with inversion recovery (T2WI/SPIR), balanced fast-field echo (B-FFE) and short-time inversion recovery (STIR) sequences. The coronal image of the sciatic nerve was obtained. The nerve and muscle signal ratio (SIR) on each sequence was measured. The function recovery was observed and pathological examination was performed at each time point.A signal intensity increase of the distal segment of crushed sciatic nerves was found on 3DT2WI, T2WI/SPIR, B-FFE, and STIR, but not on T1WI images. Of 32 crushed nerves, 30 nerves showed high signal intensity. The correct diagnostic rate was 93.75% with false negative-positive of 6.25%. The SIR of the crushed sciatic nerve at distal portion was higher than those of the control nerves; there was a statistically significant difference (P0.001). The SIR of the distal portion of crushed nerves was higher than that of the proximal nerve portion; there was a statistically significant difference (P0.001). Whereas, the SIR at proximal nerve portions of crushed nerve was similar to control nerves (P0.05). The SIR between group A and group B was not found statistically significantly different (P0.05). The SIR of crushed nerves at distal portion increased at one week after the crush injury, subsequently further increased, and reached a maximum at 2 weeks. The pathological examination revealed myelin swelling and axonal fragmentation of crushed nerve. Abduction function of injured hind limb was deficit. From 4 to 8 weeks following the crush, the SIR decreased, correspondingly, nerve regeneration was revealed on pathology including extensive Schwann cells proliferation and the immature myelin formation. The abduction function gradually recovered. There was no abnormal finding on MRI for control and sham-operated nerves.The SIR of injured nerve at distal portion increased on MRI. The evolution of SIR after injury was correlated with the degeneration and regeneration of nerve and the function recovery of lower extremities. Assessment of peripheral nerve injury by using SIR could reveal acute nerve injury, as well as aid in monitoring the recovery process. The pathophysiological basis for the SIR is predominantly the results of axon breakdown and myelin regeneration

Qingyu Liu,1,2,* Mengmei He,1,2,* Hui Shi,1,3 Qianyi Wang,1,2 Yaru Du,1,3 Junling Liu,1,2 Chengda Ren,1,2 Ding Xu,1 Jing Yu1 1Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, 2Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 3Department of First Clinical Medical College, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Background: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the efficacy and safety of intravitreal corticosteroid implants for macular edema. Methods: A total of 3,586 patients from previously reported randomized controlled trials were included. The meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2. Summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, employing random-effects or fixed-effects models according to between-study heterogeneity. The main outcome measures were the ORs for effects and safety of intravitreal corticosteroid implants. Results: Four eligible studies were included. Compared with the sham group, the ORs for≥15 letter improvement of visual acuity in the high-dose and low-dose groups were 1.89 (95% CI 1.33–2.69, P=0.0004) and 1.62 (95% CI 1.10–2.41, P=0.02), respectively. The weight mean differences in central retinal thickness increases were -75.46 (95% CI -90.29, -60.63, P

[1] Global climatic impacts of the North Pacific Ocean are studied using both observations and a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. It is found that the coupled ocean-atmosphere interaction over the western North Pacific may modulate global climate in the tropical Indian Ocean, the western subtropical south Pacific, and the tropical and North Atlantic through potential atmospheric teleconnections of the Asian winter monsoon and the Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation (AO/NAO). The study suggests that the North Pacific Ocean may be an important regulator of global decadal climate variability.

This presentation describes a mathematical analog model, method of calibration, circuit characteristics and error analysis of electrical energy, power, voltage and current meter at power frequency based on a self-calibration principle. Results of comparison of the prototype meters and their test results are also presented.

This work was done to compare the validity of various imaging methods, e.g. ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT), endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), and, especially, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) for extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma.Sixty-five such patients who were operated and confirmed by pathology were used. Sixty patients had been examined by US; 52 by CT; 20 by ERCP; 9 by PTC and 20 by MRCP. The results of these imaging methods were compared with those of operative and pathological findings.The diagnostic accuracy rates of site location were US 81.7%, CT 84.6%, ERCP 75.0%, PTC 88.9% and MRCP 100%, respectively. The quality diagnostic accuracy rates were US 73.3%, CT 82.7%, ERCP 75.0%, PTC 88.9% and MRCP 95.0%, respectively.MRCP is superior to US, CT, ERCP and PTC not only in demonstrating the position but also the nature of extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma.

We study the problem of minimizing fuel consumption of a heavy-duty truck traveling across national highway subject to a deadline, under a practical setting that traversing a road segment is subject to variable speed ranges due to dynamic traffic conditions. The consideration of dynamic traffic conditions not only differentiates our work from existing ones but also allows us to leverage opportunistic driving to improve fuel efficiency. The idea is for the truck to strategically wait (e.g., at highway rest areas) for benign traffic conditions, to traverse subsequent road segments at favorable speeds for saving fuel. We observe that the traffic condition and thus the speed ranges are mostly stationary within certain durations of the day, and we term them as phases where each phase is defined as a time interval with fixed speed ranges. We formulate the fuel consumption minimization problem under phased speed ranges, considering path planning, speed planning, and opportunistic driving. We prove the problem is NP-hard, and develop a dual-subgradient heuristic for instances of the scale of national highway system. We characterize conditions under which the heuristic generates an optimal solution. We carry out simulations based on real-world traces over the US highway system. The results show that our scheme saves up to 26% fuel as compared to shortest-/fastest- path baselines, of which 11% is contributed by opportunistic driving. Meanwhile, opportunistic driving also reduces driving time by 13% as compared to only optimizing path planning and speed planning. As such, opportunistic driving offers a favorable design option to simultaneously reduce fuel consumption and hours of driving. Last but not least, our results highlight a perhaps surprising observation that dynamic traffic conditions can be exploited to achieve fuel savings even larger than those under stationary traffic conditions.