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Neonatal jaundice is a common symptom that occurs in neonates during the first month of their life and is generally divided into physiological and pathological subtypes. In serious cases, pathological neonatal jaundice frequently shows complications including seizures, cerebral palsy, and kernicterus. However, due to the unclear pathogenesis of pathological neonatal jaundice, effective drugs for this disease remain unsatisfied. In the present study, we first estimated the protective effects of folic acid (FA) on phenylhydrazine (PHA) or homocysteine (Hcy)-injected neonatal rats (2-3 days aged). Intriguingly, we found that FA significantly decreased the elevated total bilirubin (TBIL) and direct bilirubin (DBIL) concentration, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in PHA- or Hcy-injected rats, indicating that FA improves liver functions. Meanwhile, our results also showed that the plasma Hcy level and N-homocysteinylation (N-Hcy) modification of albumin were significantly elevated in the jaundice rats, which were obviously reversed after FA administration. Furthermore, we identified a novel N-Hcy modification site K

Construction of the 998.64-km Linzhi–Ya’an section of the Sichuan–Tibet Railway has been influenced by landslide disasters, threatening the safety of Sichuan–Tibet railway projects. Landslide identification and deformation analysis in this area are urgently needed. In this context, it was the first time that 164 advanced land-observing satellite-2 (ALOS-2) phased array type L-band synthetic aperture radar-2 (PALSAR-2) images were collected to detect landslide disasters along the entire Linzhi–Ya’an section. Interferogram stacking and small baseline interferometry methods were used to derive the deformation rate and time-series deformation from 2014–2020. After that, the hot spot analysis method was introduced to conduct spatial clustering analysis of the annual deformation rate, and the effective deformation area was quickly extracted. Finally, 517 landslide disasters along the Linzhi–Ya’an route were detected by integrating observed deformation, Google Earth optical images, and external geological data. The main factors controlling the spatial landslide distribution were analyzed. In the vertical direction, the spatial landslide distribution was mainly concentrated in the elevation range of 3000–5000 m, the slope range of 10–40°, and the aspect of northeast and east. In the horizontal direction, landslides were concentrated near rivers, and were also closely related to earthquake-prone areas, fault zones, and high-precipitation areas. In short, rainfall, freeze–thaw weathering, seismic activity, and fault zones are the main factors inducing landslides along this route. This research provides scientific support for the construction and operation of the Linzhi–Ya’an section of the Sichuan–Tibet Railway.

Background: In this study, the effects of sevoflurane or propofol on immune function in patients undergoing partial hepatectomy were investigated during general anesthesia and after surgery.Methods: Seventy-two patients undergoing hepatectomy were randomized into sevoflurane group or propofol group. Sevoflurane or target-controlled infusion (TCI) of propofol was separately used to anesthesia induction and maintenance of two groups. Venous blood samples were taken before induction, 2 hours after anesthesia and 2 hours after surgery for measurement of the percentages of T lymphocyte (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+) and NK cells.Results: Compared with that before anesthesia induction, percentage change in CD3+ and CD4+ T cells to baseline was -0.7% and 3.8% in sevoflurane group, 10.2% and 20.2% in propofol group 2 hours after anesthesia (P=0.002 for CD3+ T cells and P=0.029 for CD4+ T cells ). Percentage change in NK cells was 17.6% in sevoflurane and -12.2% in propofol group 2 hours after anesthesia respectively (P=0.03). There was no significant difference in percentage change 2 hours after surgery of T cells and NK cells to baseline between two groups.Conclusions: Our study indicates that use of propofol during general anesthesia tend to increase the percentages of peripheral CD3+ and CD4+ cells, while sevoflurane increase the peripheral NK cells. Citation: Hao Gao, Jin-Chao Song, Jin-Min Zhang, Ying-Fu Jiao, Zhi-Jie Lu,Tian-Zhu Tao, et al. Effects of sevoflurane or propofol on immune function in patients undergoing hepatectomy. J Anesth Perioper Med 2017; 4: 1-6. doi: 10.24015/JAPM.2017.0001This is an open-access article, published by Evidence Based Communications (EBC). This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format for any lawful purpose. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Postoperative acute renal failure in patients with obstructive jaundice is still a serious clinically complication, yet the mechanisms remain unclear. Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) plays a central role in renal disease progression. Several lines of evidence shows that angiotensin-converting-enzyme-2 (ACE2), a main effector of RAAS acts as a local regulator for renal protection. This study aims to investigate the role of ACE2 and the effect of spironolactone treatment in obstructive jaundice(OJ) rats with renal injury. The rats with obstructive jaundice were established by bile duct ligation. Total bilirubin (TBil), serum creatinine (Scr) and the expression of ACE2 in kidney tissue of obstructive jaundice rats were detected. Comparatively, the expression of ACE2, renin, angiotensin II (AngII), angiotensin-(1–7)[Ang-(1–7)], aldosterone and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) in kidney tissues after spironolactone administration were measured by ELISA. Renal necrosis, inflammation and fibrosis induced by OJ were also measured by HE staining and Masson staining. The correlation between the expression of ACE2 and TBil, also the Scr level were investigated. With the time of common bile duct ligation prolonged, the TBil and Scr concentration increased while the expression of ACE2 in OJ rats’ kidney tissues decreased. However, after spironolactone intervention, the expressions of ACE2, renin, AngII, Ang-(1–7), aldosterone and ICAM-1 in kidney tissue were changed, moreover, necrotic, inflammatory and fibrotic condition was also decreased. The relationship between the mRNA expression of ACE2 and TBil/Scr was observed to be moderately negatively correlated (r = −0.516, R(2) = 0.292, P

In this paper, we have prepared the beta-FeSi2 thin film on Si substrate through the direct current magnetron sputtering technology. We have tested the samples by XRD, optical digital microscope (ODM), spectrophotometer, and SEM. Under the same annealing temperature at 1153 K, the annealing time has important influence on the optical characteristic of beta-FeSi2 thin film. More the thickness of the beta-FeSi2 thin film is thinner, and more the absorptivity of photo is higher. We should use the thinner beta-FeSi2 thin film with appropriate value of the thickness and must adopt the anti-reflection layer to fabricate the solar cell.

Background: Propofol may result in hypotension and respiratory depression, while etomidate is considered to be a safe induction agent for haemodynamically unstable patients because of its low risk of hypotension. We hypothesized that etomidate anesthesia during ERCP caused more stable haemodynamic responses compared with propofol. The primary endpoint was to compare the haemodynamic effects of etomidate vs. propofol in ERCP cases. The secondary endpoint was overall survival. Methods: A total of 80 patients undergoing ERCP were randomly assigned to an etomidate or propofol group. Patients in the etomidate group received etomidate induction and maintenance during ERCP, and patients in the propofol group received propofol induction and maintenance. Cardiovascular parameters and procedure-related time were measured and recorded during ERCP. Results: The average percent change to baseline in MBP was -8.4±7.8 and -14.4±9.4 with P = 0.002, and in HR was 1.8±16.6 and 2.4±16.3 with P = 0.874 in the etomidate group and the propofol group, respectively. MBP values in the etomidate group decreased significantly less than those in the propofol group (P

In order to diagnose the fault of rolling bearing by the vibration signal, a new method of fault diagnosis based on weighted fusion and BP (Back Propagation) neural network was put forward. At first, the vibration signal from the sensors was wave filtered through the method of correlation function, then the fused signal was obtained by the classical adaptive weighted fusion method, the multi-type characteristics parameters was to be as a neural network input. Finally, the fault diagnosis of rolling bearing was realized by the BP neural network, and the results show that the multi-sensor information fusion fault diagnosis method can be proved effectively to achieve the fault diagnosis of rolling bearing.

Aiming at complex features of the fault rotating machinery such as nonstationary and nonlinearity, a new method for fault diagnosis based on multi-fractal was introduced. The vibration signals firstly are analyzed by multi-fractal theory and have multi-fractal characteristics. Then the area of multi-fractal spectrum S and the entropy of multi-fractal spectrum Hm were extracted as new criterions to diagnose machinery faults. Results of experimental analysis indicate that the method is effective and it provides a new way in fault diagnosis of rotating machinery.

The magnet-optical films of TbFeCo and Ag/TbFeCo were prepared on the Si substrates by magnetron sputtering. The spectra of Kerr ellipticity and Kerr rotation were measured at room temperature and the remarkable enhancement of Kerr effect was observed at short wavelength. The enhancement of Kerr effect is not caused by the interference between layers, but the resonance-like peak due to the presence of the plasma absorbing edge of Ag. The thickness of Ag layer has important influence on the enhancement of Kerr effect and the enhancement of Kerr effect will be disappeared as Ag layer is over than 50 nm.

In this paper, a boundary element formulation is developed to analyze mechanically bolted composite joints and repairs. Boundary equations are formulated for all the member panels of the composite joints/repairs. These equations are solved together with the fastener equations to get the resultant contact forces for all the fasteners involved. The fasteners are modeled as 1-D springs that are governed by linear relationships between the fastener forces and the displacements of member panels at the respective fastener centers. After obtaining the fastener forces from the so-called global analysis, detailed stress analyses are conducted for regions around individual fasteners. The stress distributions around fastener holes are then used to evaluate the margin of safety of the composite panels. The numerical predictions on the fastener forces, failure modes and failure loads of two composite joints using this method agree very well with experimental results. The boundary element formulation presented here is especially suitable for design and analysis of aircraft battle damage repairs where time and facility availability is the prime concern.

An approach is proposed for the determination of the transformation shear of a single precipitated ZrO 2 ellipsoidal particle embedded in a three-dimensional infinite elastic medium. Multiple modes twinning inside the monoclinic particle transformed from tetragonal symmetry is considered. Kinematically admissible twinning planes and the corresponding twinning elements are determined according to the continuum theory of dispacive phase transformation. The effect of thermal expansion mismatch between particle and matrix is taken into account. The morphology of the transformed particle is determined by the minimization of the potential energy change of the whole particle-matrix system. Numerical examples are presented to show the dependence of the transformation plasticity on the parameters such as temperature, transformation stresses, particle shape and loading directions.

Iron films were deposited onto the Si (100) substrates by DC-magnetron sputtering and subsequently annealed in the temperature range of 873 K to 1273 K for 2 hours. Rutherford backscattering analysis was performed to determine the elemental depth profiles and the oxidation process in samples. The silicides formation was characterized by X-ray diffraction. The results indicate that annealing at 873 K causes only a small mixing of the Fe and Si atoms near the Fe/Si interface, while the 973 K annealing enhances the atomic diffusion and yields to a graded concentration distribution of Fe and Si. The metal-rich silicides Fe1+xSi (0≤x≤2) start to nucleate and grow at 973 K and only α - FeSi2 formation is conduced after annealing at 1273 K for 2 hours.

A model is proposed to investigate the transformation shear of the precipitated zirconia particles which undergo a stress-induced lattice transformation from tetragonal to monoclinic symmetry. Kinematically admissible twinning planes and the corresponding twinning elements are determined according to the continuum theory of dispacive phase transformation. It is postulated that only one twinning mode prevails in each transformed particle and that the minimization of elastic strain energy change dictates the morphology of the transformed variants. The transformation shear is determined by the twinning mode and the volume fraction of the corresponding variant. Numerical calculations show that each of the six kinematically admissible twinning modes may be kinematically favorable and therefore operate in a constrained particle. The actual transformation shear in a transformed particle is shown to be dependent on the transformation stress, on the particle shape as well as on the lattice orientation relative to the principal axes of the ellipsoidal particle.

To assess the value of positron emission tomography (PET) with (11)C-choline (CH), (11)C-methionine (MET), (18)F-fluorothymidine (FLT), and (11)C-acetate (AC) in diagnosis of pulmonary abnormalities and the features of pulmonary abnormalities in PET.From June 2002 to June 2007, 100 patients with pulmonary nodules or masses confirmed by CT scans received PET with special tracers. Fifty-eight patients received CH-PET, 16 patients received MET-PET, 22 patients received FLT-PET, 4 patients received AC-PET. PET data was analyzed by visual method and semiquantitative method with standard uptake value (SUV). Diagnoses were compared with pathology and follow-up survey.For identification of pulmonary neoplasms with CH-PET, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 84.2% (32/38), 57.9% (11/19) and 75.4% (43/57). In cancer cases, SUV had no correlation with tumor size or age. For identification of pulmonary neoplasms with MET-PET, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 6/7, 6/9 and 75.0% (12/16). In cancer cases, SUV had not correlation with tumor size or age. For identification of pulmonary neoplasms with FLT-PET, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 85.7% (12/14), 2/8 and 63.6% (14/22). In cancer cases, SUV had not correlation with tumor size or age. In AC-PET, only 1 case of pulmonary metastasis of kidney clear cell carcinoma showed acetate avid. Two squamous cell carcinoma and 1 adenocarcinoma didn't appear abnormal in AC-PET.CH, MET, FLT, AC are valuable in diagnosing but also lead to false positive and false negative.

The Kondo insulator FeSi was prepared by DC magnetron sputtering and the effects of sputtering parameters on the formation of FeSi were investigated in detail. The formation of monosilicide FeSi was clarified using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and its microstructure was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that the sputtering gas pressure, the sputtering power and the Ar flux all have significantly effects on formation of FeSi and the crystalline of the film. The sputtering gas pressure has effects on sputtering yields, depositing rate and the energy of sputtering atoms, the sputtering power has effects on the kinetic energy and the diffusion ability of deposing atoms and the gas flux has the effects on the flowing state of Ar gas. The most optimal sputtering parameters for the preparation of the Kondo insulator FeSi by DC magnetron sputtering are given: 1.5 Pa for sputtering Ar pressure, 100 W for sputtering power and 20 SCCM for sputtering Ar flux.

In this paper, the continuum theory of dispacive phase transformation is applied to investigate the kinematical aspect of twinning in monoclinic ZrO 2 particles transformed from tetragonal phase. The numerical calculations show that six twin systems may operate in the monoclinic zirconia particles, from a pure kinematical point of view. We have also demonstrated that the fine coherence of the twin interface expects an amplitude vector on the interface which happens to approximately satisfy the invariant plane strain assumption in the phenomenological theory of martensite transformation.

The effects of embedded piezoceramic actuators and sensors on the structural integrity of the host laminated materials have been investigated using finite element analysis and fracture mechanics approach. Double cantilever beam and four point flexural tests were conducted on smart laminates with pre-set cracks to measure the fracture resistances at piezoceramic/laminate and interlaminar interfaces. A two- dimensional finite element code was developed to calculate the stress intensity factors for bi-material interface cracks. It was found that the mode I fracture resistances at piezoceramic/laminate interfaces varied from 3.64 to 4.72 Nmm-3/2, much lower than both the mode I fracture resistances for interlaminar delamination which varies from 29.6 to 76.8 Nmm-3/2 for different ply orientations and the mode I fracture resistances (34.8 approximately 53.8 Nmm-3/2) for cracks inside the piezoceramic actuators. Therefore, the piezoceramic/laminate interface is the weakest interface where debonding may first start when out-of-plane actuation or load is applied.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

The effects of annealing temperature and duration on the formation of iron silicides prepared by magnetron sputtering (MS) are investigated. The Fe/Si structures were annealed at 1073 K–1223 K for 6–18 hours. The results show that 1143 K is a critical temperature to the formation of β - FeSi 2 from Fe/Si structures deposited at room temperature. The single phase semiconducting β - FeSi 2 can be obtained after annealing at 1173 K for 12–18 hours. The SEM images indicate that both annealing temperature and duration have obvious effects on microstructures of the film. When annealing time is more than 15 hours, the crystallinity of β - FeSi 2 improves and the distribution of grains becomes homogeneous. Most of the grains of β - FeSi 2 grow toward substrate and embed themselves into Si matrix.