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We herein describe the synthesis of two axially chiral systems (

Stable organic radicals with unique luminescence show great importance in photoelectromagnetic materials. We herein report two unusual radical-based systems (

In this paper, a double-layered formation control with prioritized missions composition is proposed for static formation of multi-agent systems. At the first cooperation layer, the motion trajectory of agents is planned by designing a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) strategy without obstacle avoidance constraints. At the second perception layer, a velocity in the agent-obstacle direction is generated to keep a safe distance between agent and obstacles. Finally, the outputs of the two layers are elaborately merged by the null-space-based control (NSBC). As a result, collision-free trajectories can be planned using few computational power. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed formation control method.

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Danshen) is an important traditional Chinese medicine herb. This study aimed to investigate the drought-responsive metabolic profiling in S. miltiorrhiza using gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS) analysis. Fifty day-old S. miltiorrhiza seedlings were treated with two (moderate drought, MD) and four weeks (high drought, HD) of withholding water. The S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root samples were prepared for the GC-TOFMS analysis. Differential metabolites with substantial changes in content in S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root were identified using multivariate and univariate statistics. A total of 178 and 157 annotated metabolites were detected in S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that significantly discriminant metabolites in S. miltiorrhiza leaf by drought were associated with “galactose metabolism” and “citrate cycle”. In addition, the significantly discriminant metabolites in S. miltiorrhiza root were associated with “starch and sucrose metabolism”. Univariate statistics showed that the content of succinic acid, d-glucose, and oxoglutaric acid in S. miltiorrhiza leaf was increased by drought (fold change, FC &gt, 1.5). Allose, d-xylose, melibiose, mannose, sorbitol, quinic acid, sinigrin, and taurine in S. miltiorrhiza root were decreased by drought (FC &lt, 0.67). There were different metabolic profiles between S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root. However, the influence of drought stress on the pharmacological value and accumulation of bioactive constituents in S. miltiorrhiza should be further investigated.

tert-Butyloxycarbonyl (TBOC) substituted quinacridone (QA) derivative TBOC-QA was synthesized via a one-step simple chemical reaction and showed intense emission in both solution and the solid state. Furthermore, the water-soluble nanoparticles (NPs) TBOC-QA/Pluronic® 127 possess robust photostability, little toxicity and good cell labeling performance.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of mulberry twig alkaloids (Sangzhi alkaloids [SZ-A]) in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, and parallel controlled noninferiority clinical trial that was conducted for 24 weeks. A total of 600 patients were randomly allocated to the SZ-A group (n = 360) or acarbose group (n = 240). The primary efficacy end point was the change of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) compared with baseline. In addition, adverse events (AEs), severe AEs (SAEs), treatment-related AEs (TAEs), and gastrointestinal disorders (GDs) were monitored. RESULTS After treatment for 24 weeks, the change in HbA1c was –0.93% (95% CI –1.03 to –0.83) (–10.2 mmol/mol [–11.3 to –9.1]) and –0.87% (–0.99 to –0.76) (–9.5 mmol/mol [–10.8 to –8.3]) in the SZ-A and acarbose groups, respectively, and the least squares mean difference was –0.05% (95% CI –0.18 to 0.07) (–0.5 mmol/mol [–2.0 to 0.8]) between the two groups, with no significant difference on the basis of covariance analysis (P > 0.05). The incidence of TAEs and GDs was significantly lower in the SZ-A group than the acarbose group (P < 0.01), but no differences for AEs or SAEs between the two groups were observed (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS SZ-A exhibited equivalent hypoglycemic effects to acarbose in patients with T2D. Nevertheless, the incidence of TAEs and GDs was lower following SZ-A treatment than acarbose treatment, suggesting good safety.

Space situational awareness (SSA) plays an important role in maintaining space advantages. Task planning is one of the key technologies in SSA to allocate multiple tasks to multiple satellites, so that a satellite may be allocated to supervise multiple space objects, and a space object may be supervised by multiple satellites. This paper proposes a hierarchical and distributed task-planning framework for SSA systems with focus on fast and effective task planning customized for SSA. In the framework, a global task-planner layer performs satellite and object clustering, so that satellites are clustered into multiple unique clusters on the basis of their positions, while objects are clustered into multiple possibly intersecting clusters, hence allowing for a single object to be supervised by multiple satellites. In each satellite cluster, a local task planner performs distributed task planning using the contract-net protocol (CNP) on the basis of the position and velocity of satellites and objects. In addition, a customized discrete particle swarm optimization (DPSO) algorithm was developed to search for the optimal task-planning result in the CNP. Simulation results showed that the proposed framework can effectively achieve task planning among multiple satellites and space objects. The efficiency and scalability of the proposed framework are demonstrated through static and dynamic orbital simulations.

Background Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has long been used in the treatment of diabetic cognitive impairment (DCI), and Tu-Xian mixture is one of the prescriptions. This study used a network pharmacology method to predict the active ingredients, potential targets and pathways of Tu-Xian mixture in the treatment of DCI.Methods The potential active ingredients of Tu-xian mixture were obtained by querying databases such as TCMSP, drug targets were screened through Pharmmapper, ETCM, and UniProt databases, and disease target protein groups were collected using TTD, OMIM, and CTD databases. Therapeutic targets were obtained by comparative analysis. Then use WebGestalt to complete GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway analysis.Results A total of 51 active ingredients and 619 potential targets were obtained, among which there were 33 key targets for diabetes and 18 key targets for cognitive impairment. After GO analysis and KEGG pathway analysis, steroid hormone biosynthesis and γ-aminobutyric acid signaling pathway may be the important metabolic pathways for Tu-Xian mixture to perform therapeutic effects.Conclusions This work promoted the comprehension of Tu-Xian mixture in the treatment of DCI, and further experimental verification of the prediction results was still needed to support its clinical application.

Background. Numerous studies suggested that chronic pain and depression were closely related and widespread in the population. When patients have symptoms of chronic pain and depression, the corresponding treatment will become difficult. Acupuncture, a unique therapeutic method of traditional Chinese medicine, has been reported to potentially serve as an alternative treatment for patients with comorbid chronic pain and depression by many research studies. Methods. A comprehensive search was conducted through the online database, including the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, SinoMed, CNKI, and Wanfang database. Trials were RCTs published in the English or Chinese language, recruiting participants with chronic pain and depression comorbidity. The primary outcomes were the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD). Statistical analyses were conducted using Review Manager 5.3. Each trail was quality appraised with the five-point Jadad Score. Results. 7 eligible RCTs involving 535 patients were included. Better therapeutic effect and safety could be observed in the experimental group compared with the control group. There was a significant decrease in the VAS (mean difference (MD) = −0.68 (−1.24, −0.12), P=0.02) and HAMD (MD = −2.18 (−3.09, −1.26), P<0.00001) scores and the incidence of adverse events between two groups. Conclusion. In the treatment of chronic pain with depression, acupuncture could not only get better clinical efficacy, but also have higher security compared with medicine therapy, which can be used in patients with poorer response to the conventional medication or suffering from serious side effects.

Background. Diabetic cognitive impairment (DCI), a serious complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), is gaining more acceptance and attention. The learning and memory function of diabetics always decreases. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been demonstrated to be effective in treating the symptoms in China, and thereinto Chinese medicinal herbs (CMH) are the most widely used. The objective of the present study was to review and analyze the existing data about reducing the symptoms in CMH treatment for DCI. Methods. Electronic literature databases (PubMed, EMBASE, CNKI, SinoMed, and Wan fang) were searched for randomized controlled trials conducted in China, comparing CMH with western medicines in the treatment of DCI, up to April 1, 2018. We applied standard meta-analytic techniques to analyze data from papers that reached acceptable criteria. Result. Nine randomized controlled trials (n = 576) on CMH were included. We found moderate evidence that CMH used alone or in combination with western medicines was more effective than western medicines alone in reliving the symptoms for DCI (total effective rate, odds radio (OR) = 4.64 (2.60, 8.29), and 95% confidence interval, P Conclusions. These findings demonstrated that CMH used alone or in combination with western medicines were apparently better than western medicines alone in the treatment of DCI. Because of the poor quality of the studies that were available for the present meta-analysis, further researches are still needed to support these early findings.

Tanshinones are a class of bioactive components and pigments found in the traditional Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza (S. miltiorrhiza). To clarify the biosynthesis of tanshinones in S. miltiorrhiza roots, the metabolome and transcriptome were compared among three S. miltiorrhiza lines (two red root lines: HG and CK, one white root line: BG). In this study, 18 tanshinones showed markedly lower abundances in BG lines than in other lines and 15 significant differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) were chosen as potential marker compounds. Meanwhile, the expression of 5 tanshinone biosynthesis genes in BG was significantly downregulated, which affected the metabolic flow of tanshinones. We speculated that this was the reason BG exhibited white roots. Moreover, 49 cytochrome P450 genes and 22 transcription factors were identified as candidate genes for tanshinone synthesis and regulation. Our results not only explain the formation of root color in S. miltiorrhiza, but also provide an effective solution to explore the biosynthetic pathway of tanshinones.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) light shows (UAV-LS) have a wow factor due to their advantages in terms of environment friendliness and controllability compared to traditional fireworks. In this paper, a UAV-LS system is developed including a collision-free formation transformation trajectory planning algorithm, a software package that facilitates animation design and real-time monitoring and control, and hardware design and realization. In particular, a dynamic task assignment algorithm based on graph theory is proposed to reduce the impact of UAV collision avoidance on task assignment and the frequency of task assignment in the formation transformation. In addition, the software package consists of an animation interface for formation drawing and 3D animation simulation, which helps the monitoring and control of UAVs through a real-time monitoring application. The developed UAV-LS system hardware consists of subsystems of decision-making, real-time kinematic (RTK) global positioning system (GPS), wireless communication, and UAV platforms. Outdoor experiments using six quadrotors are performed and details of implementations of high-accuracy positioning, communication, and computation are presented. Results show that the developed UAV-LS system can successfully complete a light show and the proposed task assignment algorithm performs better than traditional static ones.

Background Our study aimed (1) to describe the proportion of psychological distress among Chinese outpatients at general hospitals, (2) to compare cognitive and behavioral characteristics of patients with different distress patterns, and (3) to investigate the discriminant function of the analyzed variables in indicating the affinity towards the different distress patterns. Methods This multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted at ten outpatient departments at Chinese general hospitals. The somatic symptom severity scale (PHQ-15), the nine-item depression scale (PHQ-9), and the seven-item anxiety scale (GAD-7) were employed to classify patients in terms of four distress patterns. Results A total of 491 patients were enrolled. Among them, the proportion of patients with high psychological distress was significantly higher within those with high somatic distress (74.5% vs. 25.5%, p

Through the analysis of the existing load balancing algorithm, aiming at the local hot spots appearing in network traffic may cause "starvation" or overload in the processing core, this paper proposes a multi-state load balancing algorithm based on packet classification SDLBA. The algorithm uses static load balancing algorithm for non-TCP packets and dynamic load balancing algorithm for TCP packets. The static load balancing algorithm uses the traditional hash algorithm to load. The dynamic load balancing algorithm adopts the idea of a combination of a light overload table and a heavy overload table. When the light load threshold is satisfied, a new connection re-mapping strategy is adopted to meet the heavy load threshold The core connectivity migration strategy is adopted to periodically update each processing core load and light, heavy load table and other data table information so that each processing core tends to balance the load as much as possible when the flow is complete.

By analyzing the existing pattern matching algorithms, we found AC_BM algorithm or AC_SUNDAY algorithm combine the advantages of AC algorithm and the single-pattern matching algorithms. When a mismatch occurs, the moving distance on matching trees become larger. Based on this idea, an improved jump step matching algorithm named AC_ID is proposed. When occurs the mismatch or the scanning is over, the moving distance on the matching tree is determined by the first four characters of the current matching window. It make the maximum jump distance on matching tree be equal to the shortest pattern string length plus four in the pattern string set. Furthermore, two fields (pattern string length, initial position) are added to each node to process the pattern string with anchoring. Finally, the experiment results show that either the number of moving or matching time, the proposed algorithm is better than AC_BM algorithm and AC_SUNDAY algorithm.

Objective To explore the characteristics of illness attribution of outpatients with multiple somatic symptoms in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Methods It was a cross-sectional study conducted from March to October,2012. A total of 150 outpatients were recruited from the departments of Gastroenterology,Traditional Chinese Medicine and Psychological Medicine by convenience sampling. Somatic symptom scale of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15) was used to screening each patient in the waiting list. With the cut-off value of 10,patients were divided into the somatic symptom positive (SOM+) group and somatic symptom negative (SOM-) group. Sociodemographic characteristics were compared between these two groups. All the subjects completed interviews including questions about illness attribution. All the answers of illness attribution were concluded into three major groups as physical factors,situational factors and psychological factors. Results The proportion of female was significantly higher in SOM+ group than in SOM-group (69.3% vs. 53.3%;χ

This paper presents a new aquathermolysis study of conventional heavy oil in superheated steam. A new high temperature autoclave was designed, where volume and pressure could be adjusted. Aquathermolysis was studied on two different conventional heavy oil samples under different reaction times and temperatures. Experimental results show that aquathermolysis does take place for conventional heavy oil. As reaction time increases, the oil viscosity reduces. However, the reaction will reach equilibrium after a certain period of time and won’t be sensitive to any further reaction time any more. Analysis shows that, while resin and asphaltenes decrease, saturated hydrocarbons and the H/C ratio increase after reaction. The main mechanism of aquathermolysis includes hydrogenization, desulfuration reaction of resin and asphaltenes, etc.

The influence of nozzle position on the performance of an ejector was analyzed qualitatively with free jet flow model. Experimental investigations and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the nozzle position of the subsonic ejector were also conducted. The results show that there is an optimum nozzle position for the ejector. The ejecting coefficient reaches its maximum when the nozzle is positioned at the optimum and decreases when deviating. Moreover, the nozzle position of an ejector is not a fixed value, but is influenced greatly by the flow parameters. Considering the complexity of the ejector, CFD is reckoned as a useful tool in the design of ejectors.

Background Chinese herbal medicines are commonly used to improve general health and well-being despite limited scientific data to support their efficacy. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to determine whether an herbal remedy that is used widely in China was associated with changes in quality of life, energy, memory, sexual function, and qi (the Chinese concept of "vital energy" that is important in general health). Methods Residents (n = 237) of Beijing, China, who were aged ≥60 years and had self-reported decreased energy, memory, or sexual function, were randomly assigned to take four tablets of a Chinese herbal formula or of an identical placebo, three times a day for 30 days. Patients returned for one follow-up visit after 30 days for assessment of all outcomes. The main outcome measures were changes in quality of life at 30 days as measured by the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) Mental and Physical Component Summary scales. Results Use of Chinese herbs was associated with a small benefit in the Mental Component scale (difference of 1.9 points; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.1 to 3.6) and no benefit in the Physical Component scale (difference of –0.1 points; 95% CI: –1.7 to 1.5) as compared with placebo. A small improvement in the qi scale was no longer significant after adjusting for baseline differences in this score between groups. There was no improvement in physical performance, memory, or sexual function. The herbal product was well tolerated. Conclusion Short-term use of a mixture of Chinese herbs was associated with a small benefit in one measure of mental health that is of unclear clinical importance.

To explore the influence of complexity of reservoir properties in porous media and the diversity of operating conditions on the steam distillation rate of crude oil in the process of heavy oil exploitation with steam injection, steam distillation simulation devices are used to study steam distillation rate of crude oil in porous media. Then steam distillation ratio is obtained under the condition of different core permeability, oil saturation, steam temperatures, system pressure, steam injection rates and steam distillation rates with different viscosities of crude oil. The results show that the steam distillation rate of crude oil in porous media depends mainly on the nature of the crude oil itself, for temperature and pressure are the key factors compared with the pore structure, the initial oil saturation and steam injection rate. The experimental results help estimate the amount of crude oil and the required steam in the reservoir in the steam drive process, aiming to facilitate the optimization design and operation of steam drive.

Background Despite the high co-morbidity of depressive symptoms in patients with multiple somatic symptoms, the validity of the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) has not yet been investigated in Chinese patients with multiple somatic symptoms. Methods The multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in ten outpatient departments located in four cities in China. The psychometric properties of the PHQ-9 were examined by confirmative factor analysis (CFA). Criterion validation was undertaken by comparing results with depression diagnoses obtained from the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) as the gold standard. Results Overall, 491 patients were recruited of whom 237 had multiple somatic symptoms (SOM+ group, PHQ-15≥10). Cronbach׳s α of the PHQ-9 was 0.87, 0.87, and 0.90 for SOM+ patients, SOM− patients, and total sample respectively. All items and the total score were moderately correlated. The factor models of PHQ-9 tested by CFA yielded similar diagnostic performance when compared to sum score estimation. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis based on unidimensional model showed similar psychometric properties over the groups with low and high somatic symptom burden. The optimal cut-off point to detect depression in Chinese outpatients was 10 for PHQ-9 (sensitivity=0.77, specificity=0.76) and 3 for PHQ-2 (sensitivity=0.77, specificity=0.74). Limitations Potential selection bias and nonresponse bias with applied sampling method. Conclusions PHQ-9 (cut-off point=10) and PHQ-2 (cut-off point=3) were reliable and valid to detect major depression in Chinese patients with multiple somatic symptoms.

The problem of cognitive impairment resulting from diabetes is gaining more acceptance and attention. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus have been proved to be associated with reduced performance on numerous domains of cognitive function. Although the exact mechanisms of cognitive impairments in diabetes have not been completely understood, hyperglycemia and insulin resistance seem to play significant roles. And other possible risk factors such as hypoglycemia, insulin deficiency, vascular risk factors, hyperactive HPA axis, depression, and altered neurotransmitters will also be examined. In the meanwhile, this review analyzed the role of the active ingredient of Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of diabetes cognitive impairments.

Lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer death in the world. It is a health threat of human being. The clinical observations confirmed that there are some advantages by using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to treat lung cancer. TCM can improve symptoms and the quality of life, and extend lifespan of lung cancer patients as well. However, the specific mechanism of TCM treatment is unclear. Many scholars in the world have done a lot of research about the treatment of lung cancer with TCM. In this paper, the experimental study on treatment of lung cancer with TCM was reviewed over the past 10 years from the following aspects: inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis of lung cancer cell, impact on the tumor cell matrix, inhibiting the angiogenesis and regulation the immune system. This review summarizes the research results in recent years and provides a reference for further study.

Traditional Chinese/herbal medicine (TCM) is now commonly used by cancer patients of Asian ethnicity to supplement or replace prescribed treatments. The overall survival rate for lung cancer has not improved significantly in the past several decades; it remains the leading cause of cancer death. Much more attention has been paid by clinicians and researchers to the possible use of compound Chinese medicine (CCM) as effective anti-lung cancer medicines. In this review, we briefly summarize the clinical and experimental status of numerous CCMs recently developed primarily in China for the treatment of lung cancer, including formulations, treatment effectiveness, and molecular mechanisms. By presenting this information, our goal is to possibly open up new future avenues for the practice of lung cancer treatment.