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Chronic liver disease (CLD) is currently a major health problem worldwide, which is accompanied by chronic liver injury and lack of clinically effective treatment; however, systematic characterization of chronic liver injury procedures at single-cell resolution is lacking. In the present study, we established chronic liver injury mouse models and conducted single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), including choline-deficient, ethionine-supplemented (CDE) and 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl 1,4-dihydrocollidinen (DDC) mouse models. We captured in total 16,389 high-quality cells and identified 12 main cell types in scRNA-seq data. Macrophages and endothelial cells are the largest cell populations in our dataset. Transcriptional trajectory analysis revealed different expression patterns of cells between CDE and DDC models and identified potential liver injury markers, such as Ets1, Gda, Itgam, and Sparc. Differential analysis identified 25 and 152 differentially expressed genes in CDE and DDC macrophages, respectively. In addition, 413 genes were detected to exclusively express in specific pseudotime states of macrophages. These genes were found to participate in immune-related biological processes. Further cell-cell communication analysis found extensive receding of cell-cell interactions between different cell types in the liver injury process, especially in the DDC model. Our study characterized the single-cell transcriptional landscape in the process of chronic liver injury, promoting the understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms and providing candidate clinical strategy for effective intervention of chronic liver diseases., Graphical abstract, We systematically characterized single-cell transcriptome in two different liver injury mouse models by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq).

Objective Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in patients with Roux-en-Y (RY) reconstruction after total gastrectomy is difficult to be performed with routine instruments. The primary aim of this study was to analyze the feasibility and safety of cap-assisted routine adult colonoscope (CARAC) for ERCP in such patients. Methods We identified 16 consecutive patients with indications of ERCP, who had previously undergone total gastrectomy with RY reconstruction at two tertiary care endoscopy centers. All ERCP procedures were carried out with CARAC. Success rate of achieving the papilla, biliary cannulation and procedure-related adverse events were analyzed. Results The papilla was successful achieved in 11 of 16 (68.8%) cases, and biliary access was subsequently achieved in 8 of 11 (72.7%) cases. Three patients acquired success by percutaneous-endoscopic rendezvous after failed cannulation. The overall clinical success was achieved in 11 of 16 (68.8%) patients. Procedure-related mild acute pancreatitis were found in 4/16 (25%) cases and mild cholangitis in 3/16 (18.8%) cases. There were no serious adverse events such as perforation or bleeding occurred in all patients. Conclusions Cap-assisted routine adult colonoscope for therapeutic ERCP is safe and effective in patients after total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A major function of the human brain is to mediate interactions with other people. Until recently, studying social interactions as they occur within the brain was not possible due to the lack of measurable methods to observe two interacting minds simultaneously. We have developed a novel MRI dual-head volume coil pair that can scan two subjects' brains simultaneously while the subjects are socially interacting in one MRI scanner. The feasibility of using this coil for dyadic functional MRI (fMRI) study has been successfully demonstrated for the first time. Meanwhile, an innovative robust scheme for decoupling two circular-polarized coils (not surface coils) is introduced in theory and validated in practice in the coil technology development.

Isothermal melt processing (IMP) has been used to produce phase-pure, high critical current density (J/sub c/) Bi-2212 tapes at temperatures as low as 780/spl deg/C, Bi-2212 tapes processed by IMP have yielded J/sub c/ values up to 250 kA/cm/sup 2/ (I/sub c/=345 A) at liquid helium temperatures. Small test coils have been produced with J/sub c/ values up to 150 kA/cm/sup 2/. The effects of the oxidation rate, processing temperature, and time spent in the partial melt on the superconducting properties and microstructure were investigated. Optimal superconducting properties result from the interplay of these parameters such that the grain size of the Bi-2212 phase in the polycrystalline core is allowed to coarsen and align itself with the silver sheath to form a well connected superconductor. Deviations from optimal conditions result in either too little coarsening to form a well aligned structure or instabilities in the coarsening process that lead to the formation of large secondary phases which disrupt connectivity.

A comprehensive evaluation of the engineering considerations involved in theproduction of small HTc coils for commercial high current applications has been undertaken. Part of this study involved an investigation of the conditions under which coils are wound, fired and potted in order to recreate, in lengths exceeding 50m, the Jc which can be attained in short samples of a few cm in length. Individual pancake coils were evaluated by testing their 4.2K superconducting current capacity in the presence of a backing field of up to l OT. The performance of each coil was compared to the Jc capacity predicted from short sample Jc testing on samples of a few cm length. Coils were then stacked to form prototype magnets and the field generated by the magnet was measured using a Hall Probe.

One of the major functions of the human brain is to mediate interactions with other people. Until recently, studying brain social interactions has not been possible due to the lack of measurable methods to observe two interacting minds simultaneously. We have developed a novel dual-head MRI coil that can scan two subjects' brains simultaneously while the subjects are socially interacting in one MRI scanner. Meanwhile, a novel scheme for decoupling two quadrature coils (not surface coils) is introduced and validated.

Otsu adaptive thresholding is widely used in classic image segmentation. Two-dimensional Otsu thresholding algorithm is regarded as an effective improvement of the original Otsu method. To reduce the high computational complexity of 2D Otsu method, a fast algorithm is proposed based on improved histogram. Two-dimensional histogram is projected onto the diagonal, which forms 1D histgram with obvious peak and valley distribution. Then two-dimensional Otsu method is applied on a line that is vertical to the diagonal to find the optimal threshold. Furthermore, three look-up tables are utlilized to improve the computational speed by eliminating the redundant computation in original two-dimensional Otsu method. Theoretical analysis and experimental simulation show that the proposed approach greatly enhances the speed of thresholding and has better immunity to Salt and Pepper Noise.

A novel twin-volume head coil that allows fMRI to study two interacting brains in one scanner was developed. An odd-even mode theory was established to analyze this new breed of MRI coils. The enabling capability of this coil could push fMRI beyond current boundary.

In this paper the design and implementation of a unique acousto-ultrasonics system for the inspection of composite armored vehicles is discussed. The system includes a multi-sensor probe with a position-tracking device mounted on a computer controlled scanning bridge. The system also includes an arbitrary waveform generator with a multiplexer and a multi-channel acoustic emission board capable of simultaneously collecting and processing up to four acoustic signals in real time. C-scans of an armored vehicle panel with defects are presented.