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An image of dragonfly with many details is obtained by the fundamental property of the high-energy proton source on a femtosecond petawatt laser system. Equal imaging of the dragonfly and high spatial resolution on the micrometer scale are simultaneously obtained. The head, wing, leg, tail, and even the internal tissue structures are clearly mapped in detail by the proton beam. Experiments show that image blurring caused by multiple Coulomb scattering can be reduced to a certain extent and the spatial resolution can be increased by attaching the dragonfly to the RCFs, which is consistent with theoretical assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: There is no effective therapy for blast-induced hearing loss in the clinic. The present report summaries our case series with using nerve growth factor in the treatment of patients with various blast-induced hearing loss. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed the clinical outcomes of 21 patients (33 ears) seen in our Outpatient Service Clinic who were treated with nerve growth factor (NGF) by intramuscular injection for 10 days.The pure tone audiometry changes before and after NGF treatments were measured for five frequencies. RESULTS: Among the 21 patients with blast-induced hearing loss (33 ears) treated with 10-d NGF injection, the mean value of pure tone audiometry for the 5 frequencies for all the 33 ears after NGF treatment was significantly improved (p = 0.01).Three patients (6 ears) had hearing improved in different degrees, with average hearing being recovered by 15 dB HL. The total effective rate of the treatment was 18%. CONCLUSIONS: Nerve growth factor can be used to treat blast-induced hearing loss in clinic. The key to clinical success is early treatment; the efficacy on the patients with late treatment (more than one-month after injury is poor). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the adjoint theory, the adjoint of the aerosol module in the atmospheric chemical modeling system GRAPES-CUACE (Global/Regional Assimilation and PrEdiction System coupled with the CMA Unified Atmospheric Chemistry Environment) was developed and tested for its correctness. Through statistic comparison, BC (black carbon aerosol) concentrations simulated by GRAPES-CUACE were generally consistent with observations from Nanjiao (one urban observation station) and Shangdianzi (one rural observation station) stations. To track the most influential emission-sources regions and the most influential time intervals for the high BC concentration during the simulation period, the adjoint model was adopted to simulate the sensitivity of average BC concentration over Beijing at the highest concentration time point (referred to as the Objective Function) with respect to BC emission amount over Beijing-Tianjin- Hebei region. Four types of regions were selected based on administrative division and sensitivity coeffcient distribution. The adjoint model was used to quantify the effects of emission-sources reduction in different time intervals over different regions by one independent simulation. Effects of different emission reduction strategies based on adjoint sensitivity information show that the more influential regions (regions with relatively larger sensitivity coeffcients) do not necessarily correspond to the administrative regions, and the influence effectiveness of sensitivity-oriented regions was greater than the administrative divisions. The influence of emissions on the objective function decreases sharply approximately for the pollutants emitted 17-18 h ago in this episode. Therefore, controlling critical emission regions during critical time intervals on the basis of adjoint sensitivity analysis is much more effient than controlling administrative specified regions during an experiential time period [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to develop low-cost large eutectic ceramic, Al2O3/MgAl2O4/ZrO2 eutectic ceramic crystal was prepared with induction zone melting. The eutectic phases' composition and microstructure were investigated with X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively, and mechanical properties were tested with micro-indentation and three-point bending method. The crystal consists of only Al2O3, MgAl2O4 and ZrO2 phases, and no pore is discovered along the whole crystal. The eutectic spacing decreases as the growth rate increases. After a heat treatment in 1550°C for 15 hours in the air, both the crystal weight and the phase size do not change. Its flexure strength reaches up to 720 MPa, which is about four times of that of the sintered ceramic. Its fracture toughness reaches 6·0 MPa m−1/2, more than three times of that of the sintered ceramic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Surgical treatment of carotid body tumour: a report of 39 cases and a new classification of carotid body tumour: Our Experience," by Y. Ma, D. Huang, L. Liu, M. Xiang, E. K. Oghagbon, and S. Zhai in the June 3, 2014 issue.

A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of replacing fish meal ( FM) with blood meal ( BM), poultry by-product meal ( PBM), meat and bone meal ( MBM) and shrimp head meal ( SHM), rapeseed meal ( RM) and peanut meal ( PM) on a digestible basis of crude protein and lysine and methionine in five practical diets for the Pacific white shrimp at the FM levels of 300, 250, 200, 150 and 100 g kg−1 under laboratory conditions. Each of the five experimental diets was hand-fed to four replicate tanks of shrimp with an average weight of 0.33 ± 0.03 g to satiation at each meal. The shrimp were fed three times a day over a six-week period. The per cent weight gain of initial body weight ( WG%) was significantly lower in shrimp fed 100 g kg−1 FM diet, but the value for hepatosomatic index ( HSI) and the level of blood urea nitrogen ( BUN) tended to be higher in shrimp fed 100 g kg−1 FM diet than those in shrimp fed other diets. The lowest value for feeding rate ( FR) occurred for shrimp fed the basal diet and was significantly lower than that in shrimp fed the FM diets at 100-150 g kg−1. Shrimp fed diets containing 200 g kg−1 or lower FM had significantly lower feed utilization than those fed the 250 g kg−1 FM diet and the basal diet. The protein efficiency ratio ( PER) in the shrimp fed the basal diet was significantly higher than in the other FM diets. Decreasing the FM replacement level significantly reduced nutrient digestibility except in the cases of ash and gross energy, but it did not affect the survival, condition factor ( CF), body composition, digestive enzyme activity or plasma transaminase activity. The results of the study indicate that feeding a diet formulated on a digestible basis and involving FM replacement with other protein sources at a greater replacement proportion will not produce a level of shrimp growth equal to that achieved by feeding the basal diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although automatic and robust cluster identification is crucial for ultra-wideband propagation modeling, the existing schemes may either require interactions with analyst, or fail to produce reasonable clustering results in more universal propagation environments. In this article, we suggest a novel cluster identification algorithm. Rather than assuming the limited exponential power decay characteristics on UWB channels, from a novel perspective cluster identification is formulated as the local discontinuity detection based on wavelet analysis. Firstly, in order to comprehensively reflect the prevailing amplitude changes induced by new clusters, the moving averaging ratio is extracted from the measured UWB channel impulse responses. Subsequently, the appealing local-transient analysis ability of wavelet transform is properly exploited, and a computationally efficient cluster extraction method is developed. Distinguished from the subjective visual inspection and excluding any analyst interaction, the presented scheme can automatically discover multiple clusters. Our algorithm is premised on the general amplitude discontinuity and hence is applicable to various complicated operation environments. Moreover, the produced clustering results, essentially depicting realistic physical propagations, are basically independent of parameter configurations. Experiments on both simulated channels and the measured data in typical vehicle cabin validate the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:To explore the protective effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor on the noise-damaged cochlear spiral ganglion.Methods:Recombinant adenovirus brain-derived neurotrophic factor vector, recombinant adenovirus LacZ and artificial perilymph were prepared. Guinea pigs with audiometric auditory brainstem response thresholds of more than 75 dB SPL, measured seven days after four hours of noise exposure at 135 dB SPL, were divided into three groups. Adenovirus brain-derived neurotrophic factor vector, adenovirus LacZ and perilymph were infused into the cochleae of the three groups, variously. Eight weeks later, the cochleae were stained immunohistochemically and the spiral ganglion cells counted.Results:The auditory brainstem response threshold recorded before and seven days after noise exposure did not differ significantly between the three groups. However, eight weeks after cochlear perfusion, the group receiving brain-derived neurotrophic factor had a significantly decreased auditory brainstem response threshold and increased spiral ganglion cell count, compared with the adenovirus LacZ and perilymph groups.Conclusion:When administered via cochlear infusion following noise damage, brain-derived neurotrophic factor appears to improve the auditory threshold, and to have a protective effect on the spiral ganglion cells. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]