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Objective: To explore the efficacy of arthroscopic release in treating postoperative knee adhesion and investigate the influence of release timing on the treatment outcomes. Methods: A total of 50 patients who accepted arthroscopic release in Peking University Third Hospital from February 2017 to December 2021 were included in the retrospective cohort. The study cohort comprised 28 men and 22 women, with a mean age of (30.8±11.9) years. All the primary surgeries were manipulated under arthroscopes. A comparison was made between pre-and postoperative range of motion (ROM), visual analog scale (VAS), International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores, and Tegner activity scale scores for the patients. According to the interval between the appearance of adhesion and arthroscopic release, the patients were divided into four groups:<3 months group ( n =12), 3-6 months group ( n =16),>6-12 months group ( n =14), and>12 months group ( n =8). Inter-group comparisons on postoperative ROM, IKDC scores, and Tegner activity scale scores and improvement values of each outcome were conducted. Results: All the patients were followed up for (36.4±19.7) months. Patients gained significant improvement in flexion, extension, IKDC scores, and Tegner scores (125.0°±20.0° vs 75.7°±27.5°, 2.3°±4.8° vs 7.4°±7.3°, 69.8±17.7 vs 51.4±12.8, 4.1±2.1 vs 2.2±1.1) (all P <0.05), while the VAS scores did not show significant improvement. There were no significant differences among different groups in postoperative extension, IKDC scores or Tegner scores, nor in their improvements. However, patients in the ≤6 months group could gain better postoperative flexion and improvement in flexion than those in the >6 months group (129.9°±20.0° vs 118.8°±17.4°, 58.6°±32.8° vs 37.3°±23.1°) ( P <0.05). Conclusions: Arthroscopic release presents a great effect in treating knee adhesion after arthroscopic operation. Once the symptoms of adhesion appear and physical rehabilitation fails to improve the ROM, one should accept early surgical intervention (less than 6 months) for a better outcome.

Timely and accurate identification of harmful bacterial species in the environment is paramount for preventing the spread of diseases and ensuring food safety. In this study, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technology was utilized, combined with four machine learning methods - KNN, PCA-KNN, RF, and SVM, to conduct classification and identification research on 7 different types of bacteria, adhering to various substrate materials. The experimental results showed that despite the nearly identical elemental composition of these bacteria, differences in the intensity of elemental spectral lines provide crucial information for identification of bacteria. Under conditions of high-purity aluminum substrate, the identification rates of the four modeling methods reached 74.91%, 84.05%, 85.36%, and 96.07%, respectively. In contrast, under graphite substrate conditions, the corresponding identification rates reached 96.87%, 98.11%, 98.93%, and 100%. Graphite is found to be more suitable as a substrate material for bacterial classification, attributed to the fact that more characteristic spectral lines are excited in bacteria under graphite substrate conditions. Additionally, the emission spectral lines of graphite itself are relatively scarce, resulting in less interference with other elemental spectral lines of bacteria. Meanwhile, SVM exhibited the highest precision rate and recall rate, reaching up to 1, making it the most effective classification method in this experiment. This study provides a valuable approach for the rapid and accurate identification of bacterial species based on LIBS, as well as substrate selection, enhancing efficient microbial identification capabilities in fields related to social security and military applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 Optica Publishing Group.)

Objective: To compare the effect between acupoint application of Zhanjin Huoxue formula combined with local cold compress and simple local cold compress on swelling and pain after knee arthroscopy in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA)., Methods: A total of 62 KOA patients with knee swelling after knee arthroscopy were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 31 cases in each group. In the control group, cold compress was adopted after surgery, 3 times a day. On the basis of the treatment as the control group, acupoint application of Zhanjin Huoxue formula (angelicae sinensis radix, chuanxiong rhizome, cinnamon twig, poria, etc.) was applied at Liangqiu (ST 34), Xuehai (SP 10), Zusanli (ST 36), Fenglong (ST 40), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Yinlingquan (SP 9), Yanglingquan (GB 34), Xuanzhong (GB 39) on the affected side in the observation group, 4 h each time, 2 times a day. The treatment was given 7 days in both groups. Before treatment and 1,3,5 and 7 days into treatment, the pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score and swelling value of knee joint (2 cm above the patella upper pole, patella midline, 5 cm below the patella lower pole) were compared in the two groups., Results: The VAS scores 3, 5 and 7 days into treatment were lower than those before treatment in the two groups ( P <0.05), and those in the observation group were lower than the control group ( P <0.05). The swelling values of 2 cm above the patella upper pole 3, 5 and 7 days into treatment were lower those before treatment in the two groups ( P <0.05), and those in the observation group were lower than the control group ( P <0.05). The swelling values of patella midline 1, 3, 5 and 7 days into treatment were lower than those before treatment in the two groups ( P <0.05), and except for 1 day into treatment, those in the observation group were lower than the control group ( P <0.05). The swelling values of 5 cm below the patella lower pole 1 day into treatment in the observation group and 3, 5 and 7 days into treatment in the two groups were lower those before treatment ( P <0.05), and except for 1 day into treatment, those in the observation group were lower than the control group ( P <0.05). The total effective rate in the observation group was 93.5% (29/31), which was higher than 74.2% (23/31) in the control group ( P <0.05)., Conclusion: Acupoint application of Zhanjin Huoxue formula combined with cold compress could effectively improve the knee joint swelling and pain after arthroscopy in KOA patients, and the curative effect is better than simple cold compress.

Lateral-flow analysis (LFA) is a convenient, low-cost, and rapid detection method, which has been widely used for screening of diseases. However, sensitivity enhancement in LFA is still a focus in this field and remains challenging. Herein, we propose an electrospinning coating method to modify the conventional nitrocellulose (NC) membrane and optimize the liquid flow rate for enhancing the sensitivity of the NC based LFA strips in the detection of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and luteinizing hormone (LH). It can be seen that coating the NC membrane with nitrocellulose fibers could obtain a NC based strip with HCG and LH detection limits of 0.22 and 0.36 mIU mL -1 respectively, and a quantitative linear range of 0.5-500 mIU mL -1 . The results show that electrospinning is effective in modifying conventional NC membranes for LFA applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The main goal of this work is to develop an economical, portable, disposable, and reliable point of care paper biosensor based on visualization, which can be used to detect viruses, bacteria, and proteins. However, the sensitivity of immunochromatography test (ICT) strips based on nitrocellulose to target detection has always been a problem. Here, we use an electrospun nitrocellulose (ENC) fiber membrane instead of traditional nitrocellulose fiber membrane to construct ICT strips for early pregnancy detection. By proper selection of the diameter of the ENC fiber to adjust the pore size, porosity, and morphology of the membrane, ICT strips with low flow rate and high protein loading were obtained. Based on these properties, a convenient and sensitive method for the colorimetric determination of human chorionic gonadotropin was developed. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limit of ICT based on ENC membrane is 10 mIU mL -1 (S/N = 3), the linear detection range is 5-1000 mIU mL -1 , and the linear relationship is Y = 0.0434 X - 0.0136 (R 2  = 0.9802). In addition, the test strip has good specificity and stability, and will not produce false-positive results. Graphical abstract.

Stretchable superhydrophobic film was fabricated by casting silicone rubber polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on a SiO 2 nanoparticle-decorated template and subsequent stripping. PDMS endowed the resulting surface with excellent flexibility and stretchability. The use of nanoparticles contributed to the sustained roughening of the surface, even under large strain, offering mechanically durable superhydrophobicity. The resulting composite film could maintain its superhydrophobicity (water contact angle ≈ 161° and sliding angle close to 0°) under a large stretching strain of up to 100% and could withstand 500 stretching-releasing cycles without losing its superhydrophobic properties. Furthermore, the obtained film was resistant to long term exposure to different pH solutions and ultraviolet light irradiation, as well as to manual destruction, sandpaper abrasion, and weight pressing., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Removal of chromium ions is significant due to their toxicity and harmfulness, however it is very difficult to remove trace Cr(III) complexed with organics because of their strong stability. Herein, a novel electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers (NF) adsorbent was fabricated and modified by tannic acid (TA) by a facile blend electrospinning approach for removal of trace Cr(III) in an organic complex. Utilizing the large specific area of nanofibers in the membrane and the good affinity of tannic acid on the nanofibers for hydrolyzed collagen by hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds, the as-prepared PAN-TA NFM exhibited good adsorption toward Cr(III)-collagen complexes and effective reduction of total organic carbon in tannage wastewater. The maximal adsorption capacity of Cr(III) is 79.48 mg g -1 which was obtained at the pH of 7.0 and initial Cr(III) concentration of 50 mg g -1 . Importantly, the batch adsorption could decrease the Cr(III) concentration from 10-20 mg L -1 to under 1.5 mg L -1 , which showed great application potential for the disposal of trace metal ions in organic complexes from wastewater., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Robustness of superhydrophobic materials has been gradually taken into consideration for practical applications; however, little attention has been paid to the impact resistance of the superhydrophobicity of the materials. The present study demonstrated a new route for improving the mechanical durability, especially the impact resistance, of the superhydrophobic materials. First, poly(styrene- co -butadiene)/poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) (SBR/EVA) composite monoliths with microscale cellular structures were manufactured by vulcanization-foaming processes. Then the composite monoliths were treated with sandpaper to create nanostructures above the revealed micropores after removing the uppermost skin, forming micro/nanotextured surfaces and giving improvements in superhydrophobicity. Due to the elastomeric nature of SBR and EVA, the superhydrophobicity of the monoliths can be maintained even while the material is mechanically impacted or compressed, and wearing helps improvement or recovery of the superhydrophobicity because of the self-similarity of the cellular structure inside the monoliths. Additionally, the obtained superhydrophobic materials are resistant to acidic, alkali, and salt liquors as well as organic solvents and have easy healing capacity of superhydrophobicity with a simple sanding treatment when destroyed by exposure to oxygen plasma., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.)

Self-absorption-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (SAF-LIBS) can directly obtain the applicable quasi-optically thin lines by determining the optimal acquisition delay time according to the intensity ratio of doublet lines at specific transition wavelength of the analyzed elements, thus eliminating the influence of self-absorption on quantitative results. In quantitative analysis of samples with a certain content range, the key to the convenient application of this technique is to rapidly select the suitable doublet lines for the element to be analyzed. The theoretical analysis shows that the evolution trend of doublet intensity ratio is monotonous under the assumptions that the plasma is uniform and in local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and the area density (Nl) is a constant, which is also confirmed by the experimental results of Cu and Al. Thus, a rapid spectral line selection criterion for SAF-LIBS applications is derived: only when the doublet intensity ratios measured at the initial and final stages of plasma induced by the boundary sample with the highest element content lie on both sides of the theoretical ratio, the doublet lines can reach quasi-optically thin during plasma evolution and are suitable for SAF-LIBS measurements. This new criterion is helpful to promote the practicality and industrial application of SAF-LIBS technology.

Background: Chronic stable angina (CSA) is a cardiovascular disease with high prevalence. At present, drug treatment is still the main measure of stable angina pectoris. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history in the treatment of CSA. Qi stagnation and Blood stasis syndrome is a common syndrome of CSA. Xinnaoning (XNN) capsule is considered as an effective adjuvant treatment for CSA with the efficacy of promoting qi and blood circulation but lack of high-quality clinical evidence. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of XNN capsule compared with placebo by clinical trial., Methods: This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will be conducted with a total of 240 participants diagnosed with chronic stable angina (qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome). The participants will be randomized (1:1) into groups receiving either XNN or placebo for 12 weeks. After a 2-week run-in period, they will receive either XNN or placebo (3 pills, 3 times daily) for 12 weeks on the basis of conventional therapy. The primary outcomes include changes in the integral scores of angina symptoms. The secondary outcome measures include changes in the total score of traditional Chinese medicine syndrome, severity grading of angina pectoris, the number of angina pectoris per week, nitroglycerin dosage, score of seattle angina scale, serum homocysteine, incidence of cardiovascular events. Safety outcomes will also be assessed. Adverse events will be monitored throughout the trial., Results: This study will investigate whether XNN capsule can alleviate clinical symptoms, and improve quality of life of patients with chronic stable angina (qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome). The results of this study will provide clinical evidence for the application of XNN capsule in the treatment of chronic stable angina., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03914131.

A resonance/non-resonance, doublet-based, self-absorption-free, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (SAF-LIBS) technique is proposed for greatly expanding the measurement range of quantitative elemental analysis by using a quasi-optically thin line. The quasi-optically thin spectral line is obtained by matching the measured doublet atomic lines' intensity ratios with the theoretical one, and the applicable measurement range is expanded by utilizing the resonance and non-resonance lines. The specific calibration process consists of two parts: the nonlinear LIBS calibration and the linear SAF-LIBS calibration. For quantitative measurements, the approximate content of the unknown sample is determined first by using the LIBS calibration curve, and then the SAF-LIBS spectra and the resonance or non-resonance calibration curve that corresponds to the predetermined content are used for further implementing the quantitative analysis. Univariate quantitative analysis results of Cu show that this resonance/non-resonance doublet-based SAF-LIBS technique not only captures the quasi-optically thin spectral line in a wide range of elemental content, but also possesses high correlation coefficients of calibration curves, small relative errors of measurement and low limits of detection. The applicability and limitations of this technique are also discussed, and the evolution as well as the related major determinants of self-absorption are analyzed by taking advantage of the spatial-temporal evolution images of plasma emissivity.

Objective: To analyze the correlations of seminal plasma (sp) anti-Müllerian hormone (spAMH) and inhibin B (spINHB) and serum INHB (serINHB) with semen parameters in oligoasthenospermia patients and explore their value in predicting the outcome of routine in vitro fertilization (IVF)., Methods: We obtained the levels of spAMH, spINHB and serINHB as well as semen parameters from 88 infertile males undergoing IVF due to oligoasthenospermia or female uterine tubal factors from August 2016 to February 2017. Using the ROC curve and Pearson's correlation analysis, we examined the effects of the obtained parameters on the fertilization rate and assessed the correlation of the levels of spAMH, spINHB and serINHB with the semen parameters of the patients., Results: Concerning the predictive value for the outcome of IVF, Pearson's correlation analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of spAMH was 0.807 (sensitivity = 84.6%, specificity = 76%, cut-off point = 3.529, P <0.001) and that of spINHB was 0.768 (sensitivity = 84.6%, specificity = 88.7%, cut-off point = 31.117, P = 0.002). The serINHB level was found positively correlated with sperm concentration (r = 0.346, P = 0.001), total sperm count (r = 0.378, P <0.001), sperm motility (r = 0.521, P <0.001), and the percentage of progressively motile sperm (r = 0.343, P = 0.001)., Conclusions: The levels of spAMH and spINHB can be used as laboratory indexes to predict the fertilization rate of routine IVF and are correlated with semen parameters in oligoasthenospermia patients, while that of serINHB has a positive correlation with the semen parameters of the patients.

Surfaces with sustainable superhydrophobicity have drawn much attention in recent years for improved durability in practical applications. In this study, hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) were prepared and used as reservoirs to load dodecyltrimethoxysilane (DDTMS). Then superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated by spray coating HMSNs with DDTMS as particle stacking structure and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as hydrophobic interconnection. The mechanical durability of the obtained superhydrophobic surface was evaluated by a cyclic sand abrasion. It was found that once the surface was mechanically damaged, new roughening structures made of the cavity of the HMSNs would expose and maintain suitable hierarchical roughness surrounded by PDMS and DDTMS, favoring sustainable superhydrphobicity of the coating. The surfaces could sustain superhydrophobicity even after 1000 cycles of sand abrasion. This facile strategy may pave the way to the development of robust superhydrophobic surfaces in practical applications.

Quantum secure direct communication is an important mode of quantum communication in which secret messages are securely communicated directly over a quantum channel. Quantum secure direct communication is also a basic cryptographic primitive for constructing other quantum communication tasks, such as quantum authentication and quantum dialog. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of quantum secure direct communication based on the DL04 protocol and equipped with single-photon frequency coding that explicitly demonstrated block transmission. In our experiment, we provided 16 different frequency channels, equivalent to a nibble of four-bit binary numbers for direct information transmission. The experiment firmly demonstrated the feasibility of quantum secure direct communication in the presence of noise and loss.

A robust, self-healing superhydrophobic poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabric was fabricated by a convenient solution-dipping method using an easily available material system consisting of polydimethylsiloxane and octadecylamine (ODA). The surface roughness was formed by self-roughening of ODA coating on PET fibers without any lithography steps or adding any nanomaterials. The fabric coating was durable to withstand 120 cycles of laundry and 5000 cycles of abrasion without apparently changing the superhydrophobicity. More interestingly, the fabric can restore its super liquid-repellent property by 72 h at room temperature even after 20000 cycles of abrasion. Meanwhile, after being damaged chemically, the fabric can restore its superhydrophobicity automatically in 12 h at room temperature or by a short-time heating treatment. We envision that this simple but effective coating system may lead to the development of robust protective clothing for various applications.

In engineering construction, cement quality directly affects the safety of construction projects. So it is necessary that we use qualified cement in the engineering structure. It is of great signification that a method detects cement raw material rapidly to adjust the mixture ratio of raw ores to ensure the cement quality. Traditional detection method needs sampling, sample preparation and test, etc. With many procedures, the test results are seriously lagged behind the production process. This paper introduces a set of online analysis equipment to determinate elemental composition of cement powder timely based on laser induced breakdown spectroscopy. This equipment is composed of a LIBS detection system and a pneumatic system. The equipment can achieve the real-time measurement for it needn’t sample preparation. Thus, it can guide cement raw material proportioning in time. In this paper, we have quantitatively analyzed the main components of Al2O3, CaO, Fe2O3, MgO and SiO2 in the cement raw materials using the full spectrum normalization method as well as the support vector machine. The corresponding maximum absolute errors were 0.34%, 0.35%, 0.07%, 0.14%, and 0.55%, respectively. Results showed that the measurement results of the newly developed LIBS equipment are in accord with those of the conventional chemical method. Furthermore, the measurement precision is in line with X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry. It is confirmed that the LIBS technique could be a prospect method for determination of elemental composition in the cement production industries.

All living organisms are constantly exposed to stresses from internal biological processes and surrounding environments, which induce many adaptive changes in cellular physiology and gene expression programs. Unexpectedly, constitutive heterochromatin, which is generally associated with the stable maintenance of gene silencing, is also dynamically regulated in response to stimuli. In this review we discuss the mechanism of constitutive heterochromatin assembly, its dynamic nature, and its responses to environmental changes., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Superhydrophobic surfaces on PET textiles were fabricated by combined bioinspiration from the strong adhesion of marine mussels and the two-scale structure of lotus leaves under mild conditions. Dopamine can spontaneously polymerize in alkaline aqueous solution to form a thin adhesive layer of polydopamine (PDA) wrapping on the micro-scale fibers. The as-formed thin PDA layer worked as a reactive template to generate PDA nanoparticles decorated on the fiber surfaces, imparting the textiles with excellent UV-shielding properties as well as a hierarchical structure similar to the morphology of the lotus leaf. After further modification with perfluorodecyl trichlorosilane, the textiles turned superhydrophobic with a water contact angle higher than 150°. Due to the strong adhesion of PDA to a wide range of materials, the present strategy may be extendable to fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces on a variety of other substrates.

A carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor is developed using quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) with a 2.0 μm distributed feedback diode laser. The detection is based on a 2f wavelength-modulation spectroscopy approach by dithering and scanning the laser current. The laser modulation depth is optimized at normal atmosphere pressure and room temperature. The influence of the H2O presence in the sample gas mixture on the CO2 sensor performance is also investigated. The results show that, with 1% CO2 concentration, the H2O in the concentration ranges of 0 to 0.2% has an effect on the CO2 signal amplitude and phase, and the largest amplitude difference is ~2.1 times. When the H2O concentration is over 0.2%, the CO2 signal amplitude is saturated and remains steady. Atmospheric CO2 concentration is well measured using the optimal sensor parameters. Benefiting from the strong absorption line intensity at 4989.97 cm(-1), a detection limit of 19 ppm (1σ, 300 ms averaging time) is achieved, which corresponds to a normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient of 4.71 × 10(-9) cm(-1) · W · Hz(-1/2).

Superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of fluorinated methacrylates on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics. The hydrophobicity of the PET fabric was systematically tunable by controlling the polymerization time. The obtained superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent chemical robustness even after exposure to different chemicals, such as acid, base, salt, acetone, and toluene. Importantly, the fabrics maintained superhydrophobicity after 2500 abrasion cycles, 100 laundering cycles, and long time exposure to UV irradiation. Also, the surface of the superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent antifouling properties.

Targeted therapy has become a powerful approach for cancer treatment. Better understanding of oncogenes as well as synthetic lethal interactions with oncogenes will lead to new strategies for tumor-specific treatment. It is well known that mutant p53 plays an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor development. Thus, understanding the synthetic lethal relationship between p53 mutations and interacting genes in tumor is critical for the personalized treatments of p53 mutant tumors. Synthetic lethal genes to mutant p53 can be divided into cell cycle regulators and non-cell cycle regulators. This paper review show these two types of target genes contribute to synthetic lethal interactions with p53 mutations and potential applications of these interactions in anticancer therapy.

In the present paper, ultracold cesium atoms were obtained in magnetic optical trap using the laser cooling technology. The number of ultracold atoms is 10(7). The temperature of ultracold atoms is about 200 μK and the diameter of the ultracold atoms cloud is about 400 μm. The ultracold cesium molecules of excited states were formed using the photoassociation of ultracold atoms. The resolution of vib-rotational spectrum was studied under different scan rates of photossociation laser in the experiment. The resolution of vib-rotational spectrum becomes high when the scan rate of photossociation laser becomes slow. The cold atoms fluorescence was obtained using the high sensitive avalanche photo detector and the high resolution vib-rotational spectrum of ultracold cesium molecule in its first excited state of with dissociation limit long range state was obtained. The ultracold ground molecule was formed by controlled Raman photoassociation and the photoassociation laser must be locked to atom-molecular hyperfine transitions. The ultracold atoms photoassociation spectrum was modulated using ultra-low frequency. The first-order differential signal was optimized by changing modulation amplitude and modulation frequency. It provides a feedback signal to correct error of the laser. The laser frequency satisfies experimental requirement to form ultracold ground molecules using the controlled Raman photoassociation. This work is important for studies of ultracold atoms and molecules in confined space.

Because of the poor accuracy of the commonly used Boltzmann plot method and double-line method, the Boltzmann-Maxwell distribution combined with the Saha-Eggert formula is proposed to improve the measurement accuracy of the plasma temperature; the simple algorithm for determining the linewidth of the emission line was established according to the relationship between the area and the peak value of the Gaussian formula, and the plasma electron density was calculated through the Stark broadening of the spectral lines; the method for identifying the plasma local thermal equilibrium (LTE) condition was established based on the McWhirter criterion. The experimental results show that with the increase in laser energy, the plasma temperature and electron density increase linearly; when the laser energy changes within 127~510 mJ, the plasma electron density changes in the range of 1.30532X10(17)~1.87322X10(17) cm(-3), the plasma temperature changes in the range of 12586~12957 K, and all the plasma generated in this experiment meets the LTE condition threshold according to the McWhirter criterion. For element Al, there exist relatively few observable lines at the same ionization state in the spectral region of the spectrometer, thus it is unable to use the Boltzmann plane method to calculate temperature. One hundred sets of Al plasma spectra were used for temperature measurement by employing the Saha-Boltzmann method and the relative standard deviation (RSD) value is 0.4%, and compared with 1.3% of the double line method, the accuracy has been substantially increased. The methods proposed can be used for rapid plasma temperature and electron density calculation, the LTE condition identification, and are valuable in studies such as free calibration, spectral effectiveness analysis, spectral temperature correction, the best collection location determination, LTE condition distribution in plasma, and so on.

We achieve laser frequency stabilization by a simple technique based on sub-Doppler dichroic atomic vapor laser lock (DAVLL) in atomic cesium. The technique that combines saturated-absorption spectroscopy and Zeeman splitting of hyperfine structures allows us to obtain a modulation-free dispersion-like error signal for frequency stabilization. For the error signal, the dependence of peak-to-peak amplitude and the slope at the zero-crossing point on the magnetic field is studied by simulation and experiment. Based on the result, we obtain an available sub-Doppler DAVLL error signal with high sensitivity to the frequency drift by selecting an appropriate strength of the magnetic field. Ultimately, the fluctuation of the locked laser frequency is confined to below 0.5 MHz in a long term, exhibiting efficient suppression of frequency noise.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) as a rapid spectral analysis technology shows the outstanding application foreground and research value in coal quality on-line monitoring. In the practical application of this technology, the pulsed laser power fluctuation leads to the worse performance of long term stability, so a closed-loop feedback pulsed laser power locking device is set up, using laser power feedback signal to control and lock Nd:YAG laser output power. The laser power locking experiments are investigated in the same pre-set value with different splitting ratios, the different laser output power with the same proportion and the long time running modes. The results show that the beam split ration has little impact to the stability of the laser power, and the smaller split ration leads to the faster stabilization. This device can keep the output power of the pulsed laser being locked in the pre-set range for a long-term running, RSD values decrease from 2.4% of free-running to 1.1%.

In the present paper, the authors simply describe the principle of cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) measurement technology and introduce a threshold circuit, based on 555 timer IC (integrated circuit), applied to CRDS. And we verify the feasibility of the circuit. By means of changing the input resistor and input capacity, we analyzee the influence of threshold circuit characteristics on single ring-down event, and found that the greater the input capacitance, and the smaller the input impedance of circuit, the more serious the distortion of measurement of ring-down curve, especially when the resistance is less than 50 omega the ring-down time produces very big change. Then we collected and analyzed the C2H2 absorption signal at 6 531.7805 cm(-1) with different input resistance and input capacitance, and fitted the absorption line with Voigt profile. We found that the change of the input capacitance and resistance caused the distortion of fitting curve. Finally We give the optimal design of threshold circuit: the input impedance of the threshold circuit should be great, minimum of 100 omega, the capacitive reactance should be as small as possible, preferably below 1 nf, at the same time it should be ensured that the threshold of the circuit time constant is much smaller than ring-down time. The experiment research on CRDS technique application has important reference value to threshold circuit design.

In the present paper a theoretical description of the line shapes of frequency modulated noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS) under saturated conditions is presented. Expressions for both Doppler broadened and Doppler free frequency modulated NICE-OHMS signals at their absorption and dispersion phases are given. The modulation frequency, saturation parameter and frequency modulation index are set to 384 MHz, 10 and 0.2, respectively in the simulation. Based on the simulated line shape curves, in the absorption detection phase there are four sub Doppler structures existing in the spectral envelope of absorption signals of two sidebands, and in the dispersion phase there are five sub-Doppler structures existing in the spectral envelope of dispersion signals of carrier and two sidebands. The sub-Doppler structure originates from the fact that two counter propagating waves interact with the same group of molecules and one can act as a detecting beam and the other can act as a pumping beam. Therefore the sub-Doppler structure can appear at laser carrier and sidebands frequency and their middle frequencies of carrier and sidebands. Since NICE-OHMS absorption signal is only related to the absorption of sidebands the small saturation parameters of two sidebands can not saturate the Doppler broadened signal too much Although the NICE-OHMS dispersion signal includes the dispersion of carrier and two sidebands, the amplitude of Doppler broadened signal does not have so much influence by saturation except for the Doppler free signal. Therefore NICE-OHMS technique is a good candidate for the high sensitive detection of gas medium but with high selectivity under the condition of low pressure. Finally the dependences of NICE-OHMS line shape on the detection phase and saturation parameter are simulated and analyzed, the results of which nicely agree with the existing experimental results. The researches on NICE-OHMS line shapes will help explain the phenomena of related experiment.

Superhydrophobic poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) textile surfaces with a self-cleaning property were fabricated by treating the microscale fibers with alkali followed by coating with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that alkali treatment etched the PET and resulted in nanoscale pits on the fiber surfaces, making the textiles have hierarchical structures. Coating of PDMS on the etched fibers affected little the roughening structures while lowered the surface energy of the fibers, thus making the textiles show slippery superhydrophobicity with a self-cleaning effect. Wettability tests showed that the superhydrophobic textiles were robust to acid/alkaline etching, UV irradiation, and long-time laundering. Importantly, the textiles maintained superhydrophobicity even when the textiles are ruptured by severe abrasion. Also colorful images could be imparted to the superhydrophobic textiles by a conventional transfer printing without affecting the superhydrophobicity.

Frequency modulation spectroscopy (FMS) not only can be used to simultaneously measure the absorption and dispersion of atoms and molecules, but is the key technology of the noise immunity cavity enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS). The optical devices or the instability of output light polarization of the laser source will induce the residual amplitude modulation (RAM) in the FMS. RAM greatly limits the FMS technology application in trace gas detection, so the research on the RAM characteristics in the FMS has very important significance. Firstly, the lineshape of FMS without absorption was analyzed, and the impact factors on the RAM were acquired, then the influence of input and output polarization direction and electro-optical modulation (EOM) temperature was measured, respectively. They all have linear relationship with the RAM. The results verify the theoretical analysis and provide the basis for reducing the RAM and other related working.

Objective: To explore the influence of the DNA repair gene ERCC2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs13181, rs1618536, and rs1799793 on male idiopathic infertility in Ningxia, China., Methods: Using MassArray, we conducted a case-control study and genotyped three ERCC2 SNPs rs13181, rs1618536, and rs1799793 for 351 males (aged 31.0 +/- 4.2 years) with idiopathic infertility and another 327 normal fertile men (aged 33.0 +/- 5.9 years) as controls., Results: The ERCC2 AnyG-anyA-anyA genotypes were significantly associated with an increased risk of idiopathic infertility (OR 0.414, 95% CI 0.176 - 0.970), while the three single ERCC2 SNPs rs13181, rs1618536, and rs1799793 showed no significant differences between the cases and controls (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: The ERCC2 SNPs rs13181, rs1618536, and rs1799793 play a role of interaction in male idiopathic infertility in Ningxia, contributing to the risk of the disease.

In the present paper a phase controllable waveplate model was applied to the analysis of polarization maintaining fiber. Under the temperatures of 24 degrees C and 26.8 degrees C there is no residual amplitude modulation (RAM) existing in frequency modulation spectroscopy (FMS) when performing the measurement of fiber temperature dependence on the RAM. However, the temperature setting can not reduce the background long term drift and a servo feedback suggested by N. C. Wong and J. L. Hall can be used to actively reduce the RAM. The error signal for feedback is from the dispersion background signal of FMS without gas sample. The variation of RAM induced by the temperature changing of PM fiber is the main reason for the long term background drift of dispersion signal of FMS.

The present paper studied the impact of geometry dimensions, located angle and detection position of a quartz tuning fork (QTF) on the sensitivity of QEPAS system. Ten kinds of QTFs were employed to compare the sensitivity with each other, and the results show that the QTF with a wedge-shape top obtains a higher quality factor and turns to be 50% more sensitive than the ones with a regular cuboid top when detecting the water concentration at 7 306 cm-1. By studying the located angle of a QTF, it was found that it nearly makes no difference, but more noise is introduced when there is an angle phi between the laser beam and QTF. The optimal detection position of a QTF appears to be 3. 1 cm away from the bottom of the QTF under the case of the normal incidence. At last the influence of external contamination on the resonant frequency of a QTF is discussed. The authors found that the frequency of the QTF decreases along with the contamination increasing. A novel method to lower the frequency of the QTF is proposed. This may make a contribution to the QEPAS used in detecting trace gas with a low V-T relaxation.

We present a simple, reliable, and nondestructive method for the measurement of vacuum pressure in a magneto-optical trap. The vacuum pressure is verified to be proportional to the collision rate constant between cold atoms and the background gas with a coefficient k, which can be calculated by means of the simple ideal gas law. The rate constant for loss due to collisions with all background gases can be derived from the total collision loss rate by a series of loading curves of cold atoms under different trapping laser intensities. The presented method is also applicable for other cold atomic systems and meets the miniaturization requirement of commercial applications.

Rough structures created from bulk materials at the surface could have superior durability. Superhydrophobic colorful surfaces were fabricated through chemical etching of the fiber surfaces, followed by diffusion of fluoroalkylsilane into fibers. The obtained superhydrophobic textiles show strong durability against severe abrasion, long-time laundering, and boiling water.

Background: The C677T polymorphism of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) has been associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, results were conflicting. The aim of this study was to quantitatively summarize the evidence for the MTHFRC677T polymorphism and ALL risk., Methods: Electronic searches of PubMed and the Chinese Biomedicine database were conducted to select case-control studies containing available genotype frequencies of C677T and the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the strength of any association., Results: Case-control studies including 6,371 cases and 10,850 controls were identified. The meta-analysis stratified by ethnicity showed that individuals with the homozygous TT genotype had decreased risk of ALL (OR= 0.776, 95% CI: 0.687~0.877, p< 0.001) in Caucasians (OR= 0.715, 95% CI: 0.655~0.781, p= 0.000). However, results among Asians (OR=0.711, 95% CI: 0.591~1.005, p= 0.055) and others (OR=0.913, 95% CI: 0.656~1.271, p= 0. 590) did not suggest an association. A symmetric funnel plot, the Egger's test (P=0.093), and the Begg- test (P=0.072) were all suggestive of the lack of publication bias., Conclusion: This meta-analysis supports the idea that the MTHFR C677T genotype is associated with risk of ALL in Caucasians. To draw comprehensive and true conclusions, further prospective studies with larger numbers of participants worldwide are needed to examine associations between the MTHFRC677T polymorphism and ALL.

A method is introduced about quantitative analysis of carbon in coal by LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy) in the present paper, and it introduces data optimization technology and method based on spectral data integration, normalization and data screening processing to overcome the poor quality of precision in the analysis because of laser source energy fluctuation, self-absorption, sample surface roughness etc. It is showed that the standard deviation (SD) is less than 1.6% using the method to analyze C element content in coal, and this method also can be used for other element analysis for coal.

Self-designed identifying software for LIBS spectral line was introduced. Being integrated with LabVIEW, the soft ware can smooth spectral lines and pick peaks. The second difference and threshold methods were employed. Characteristic spectrum of several elements matches the NIST database, and realizes automatic spectral line identification and qualitative analysis of the basic composition of sample. This software can analyze spectrum handily and rapidly. It will be a useful tool for LIBS.

A technique about accurate measurement of oxygen content in coal in air environment using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is introduced in the present paper. Coal samples were excited by the laser, and plasma spectra were obtained. Combining internal standard method, temperature correction method and multi-line methods, the oxygen content of coal samples was precisely measured. The measurement precision is not less than 1.37% for oxygen content in coal analysis, so is satisfied for the requirement of coal-fired power plants in coal analysis. This method can be used in surveying, environmental protection, medicine, materials, archaeological and food safety, biochemical and metallurgy application.

ZnO/SiO(2) core/shell particles were fabricated by successive coating of multilayer polyelectrolytes and then a SiO(2) shell onto ZnO particles. The as-prepared ZnO/SiO(2) core/shell particles were coated on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) textiles, followed by hydrophobization with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces with UV-shielding properties. Transmission electron microscopy and ζ potential analysis were employed to evidence the fabrication of ZnO/SiO(2) core/shell particles. Scanning electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis were conducted to investigate the surface morphologies of the textile and the coating of the fibers. Ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry and contact angle measurement indicated that the incorporation of ZnO onto fibers imparted UV-blocking properties to the textile surface, while the coating of SiO(2) shell on ZnO prohibited the photocatalytic degradation of hexadecyltrimethoxysilane by ZnO, making the as-treated PET textile surface show stable superhydrophobicity with good UV-shielding properties.

For a better application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to coal quality analysis, it is necessary to optimize the key parameters of the experimental LIBS-based device. The relationships between the key parameters and the signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) of the elemental emission lines in the plasma spectrum of the pulverized coal were studied, according to which the optimal parameters can be selected. Experimental results indicate that the optimal settings for our LIBS-based device are laser pulse energy = 120 mJ x Pulse(-1), delay time of spectrometer = 200 ns, laser focal point be located 3-5 mm underneath the sample surface, rotation speed of sample cell = 2.7 rev x min(-1), a narrow-band filter with center frequency of 1 064 nm and a diaphragm with center hole diameter of 1.5 mm be placed in the path of the laser beam. Quantitative analysis results of pulverized coal show that, by using the optimal LIBS-based device, the standard deviation (SD) of C has been reduced from 6.7% to 1.6%, while the relative standard deviation (RSD) of other trace elements has been reduced from 28% to 10%. As a result, th accuracy has been improved greatly.

Protein p53 is the most intensively studied tumor suppressor protein. Recent studies keep revealing its new function in metabolism and reproduction. At the same time, it is also found that varieties of p53 mutant gained new function in promoting tumorigenesis. These studies provide the basis for understanding the personalized gain of function of p53 mu-tants and help us searching for the new strategies for reactivation of wild-type p53 and correction of the function of p53 mutants. The personalized treatment targeting different p53 mutants will be the focus for cancer treatment. Here, we re-viewed the discovered gain of function of some p53 mutants and the molecular strategies for reactivating wild type p53 function: by use of small molecules or polypeptides to reactivate the wild type function of p53 mutants in tumor cells; by exogenous expression of wild type p53 carried by recombinant adenovirus in tumor cells; and by inhibition the interaction between p53 and mdm2 to stabilize wild type p53 proteins. Further study of variety of p53 point mutations farcilitates de-signing more effectively personalized strategies in the cancer therapy.

This review summarizes the key topics in the field of large-area fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces, concentrating on substrates that have been used in commercial applications. Practical approaches to superhydrophobic surface construction and hydrophobization are discussed. Applications of superhydrophobic surfaces are described and future trends in superhydrophobic surfaces are predicted.

Werner syndrome (WS) is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disease in human. It is considered as a good model disease in studying human premature syndrome. Werner protein (WRN) is a nuclear protein mutated in WS. Recent biochemical and genetic studies indicated that WRN plays important roles in DNA replication, DNA repair, and telomere maintenance. Here, we reviewed the molecular genetics of WS and the importance of telomere and WRN in the development of WS. Knocking out both telomerase and Wrn genes in mouse faithfully manifests human WS. The mouse model provides a unique genetic platform to explore the crosstalk of premature aging and tumor.

By coating fibers with titania sol to generate a dual-size surface roughness, followed by hydrophobization with stearic acid, 1 H ,1 H ,2 H ,2 H -perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane or their combination, hydrophilic cotton fabrics were made superhydrophobic. The surface wettability and topology of cotton fabrics were studied by contact angle measurement and scanning electron microscopy. The UV-shielding property of the treated fabrics was also characterized by UV-vis spectrophotometry.

Superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated by the complex coating of silica nanoparticles with functional groups onto cotton textiles to generate a dual-size surface roughness, followed by hydrophobization with stearic acid, 1 H , 1 H , 2 H , 2 H -perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane or their combination. The wettability and morphology of the as-fabricated surfaces were investigated by contact angle measurement and scanning electron microscopy. Characterizations by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis were also conducted.

The harmonic detection of methane at 6105.3694 cm(-1) was measured by use of a digital lock-in amplifier (SR830) remotely controlled by a computer. The programme was written by Visual Basic 6.0 because it has strong function and a friendly appearance. The experimental results are in agreement with theoretical analysis, which fully confirms that a better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be achieved in the high-harmonics detection of trace gases by the digital lock-in amplifier. The method can be applicable to the highly sensitive detection of pollution gases.

The absorption coefficient alpha(v) of gas plays an important role in quantitative analysis of pollution gases and theoretical investigation of molecular parameter. In this paper we first analyze alpha(v) theoretically and present a calculation method. Then we analyze 2v3 band R3 manifold of pure CH4 and draw a conclusion that alpha(v0) decreases and the peak absorption kappa(v0) increases with increasing the pressure. When the pressure is <0.03 and >2 atm, we can calculate alpha(v0) using the Gaussian profile and Lorentzian profile respectively, and then analyze the relative error. Finally we analyze the peak absorption kappa(v0) at various pressures, then define the high-resolution area and high-sensitive area respectively when the pressure is <0.01 and >1 atm.