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Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a member of the interleukin 6 family of cytokines, is involved in skeletal metabolism, blastocyst implantation, and stem cell pluripotency maintenance. However, the role of LIF in tooth development needs to be elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Lif deficiency on tooth development and to elucidate the functions of Lif during tooth development and the underlying mechanisms. First, it was found that the incisors of Lif-knockout mice had a much whiter color than those of wild-type mice. Although there were no structural abnormalities or defective mineralization according to scanning electronic microscopy and computed tomography analysis, 3-dimensional images showed that the length of incisors was shorter in Lif−/− mice. Microhardness and acid resistance assays showed that the hardness and acid resistance of the enamel surface of Lif−/− mice were decreased compared to those of wild-type mice. In Lif−/− mice, whose general iron status was comparable to that of the control mice, the iron content of the incisors was significantly reduced, as confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and Prussian blue staining. Histological staining showed that the cell length of maturation-stage ameloblasts was shorter in Lif−/− mice. Likewise, decreased expression of Tfrc and Slc40a1, both of which are crucial proteins for iron transportation, was observed in Lif−/− mice and Lif-knockdown ameloblast lineage cell lines, according to quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot. Moreover, the upregulation of Tfrc and Slc40a1 induced by Lif stimulation was blocked by Stattic, a signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) signaling inhibitor. These results suggest that Lif deficiency inhibits iron transportation in the maturation-stage ameloblasts, and Lif modulates expression of Tfrc and Slc40a1 through the Stat3 signaling pathway during enamel development.

The effects of goal-directed fluid therapy, with lactated Ringer's (LR) and 6% hydroxyethyl starch (HES) solution, on hemorrhagic shock dogs are unknown. We aimed to determine the optimal LR: HES ratio for the resuscitation of hemorrhagic shock dogs. Hemorrhagic shock was induced in 40 ventilated dogs by drawing an estimated 60% blood volume. The animals were randomly divided into five groups (N = 8) according to the LR: HES ratio of the resuscitation fluid (3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3), and were then resuscitated for 24 h to reach the stroke volume variation (SVV) and hemoglobin (Hb) goals by fluid infusion and autologous blood perfusion. The extravascular lung water index (EVLWI), pH, partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), base excess (BE), sodium, chloride, Hb and creatinine clearance (Clearcrea) were checked after 24 h (R24). The EVLWI of the 3:1 group at R24 were higher than that of the 1:3 group and the baseline value (P0.05), whereas the PaO2 was lower (P0.05). In contrast to the 3:1 group at R24 and baseline, plasma chloride and sodium in the 1:3 and 1:2 groups increased; however, pH, BE, and Clearcrea decreased (P0.05). No significant differences were found in the 1:1 and 2:1 groups at R24 compared with baseline (P0.05). Resuscitation with LR and HES at 2:1 and 1:1 ratios are superior in maintaining the acid-base, electrolyte, and lung water balances as well as renal function in hemorrhagic shock dogs than at ratios of 3:l, 1:2, and1:3.

To investigate the value and essentiality of 6- and 24-h delay hepatobiliary scintigraphy in the differential diagnosis of biliary atresia (BA), we retrospectively analyzed 197 infants (121 boys/76 girls; age range, 3-205 days; average age, 63.9 days) admitted to Jiangxi Children's Hospital for persistent jaundice (> 2 weeks), hepatosplenomegaly, and abnormal liver function. After receiving anti-inflammatory treatment and cholagogic pre-treatment for 7-10 days without a clear diagnosis, the children underwent 99mTc-labeled diethylacetanilide-iminodiacetic acid hepatobiliary scintigraphy. BA and infant hepatitis syndrome were diagnosed in 107 and 90 infants, respectively after laparoscopic cholangiography, surgical pathology, or 6-month clinical follow-up. The diagnostic efficiencies of hepatobiliary scintigraphy for BA were evaluated within 50 min and at 6 and 24 h. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves within 50 min, at 6 and 24 h were 0.696, 0.829 , and 0.779 , suggesting poor diagnostic value within 50 min, but improvement at 6 and 24 h. The compliance rate of 6- and 24-h imaging for BA diagnosis was 89.34% (176/197; paired chi-square test Kappa value, 0.77; P > 0.05), signifying high consistency. The diagnostic efficiency values of 6-/24-h imaging for BA diagnosis were sensitivity (90.65/89.72%), specificity (74.44/78.89%), accuracy (83.25/84.77%), positive and negative predictive values (80.83/83.48% and 87.01/86.59%), with no significant difference (P > 0.05). To provide optimal treatment in early BA, the- 6-h hepatobiliary scintigraphy had practical value, especially when combined with tomographic or dynamic imaging; 24-h delay imaging was deemed unnecessary because it was not significantly superior.

Under the condition of 35 °C, honeycomb cinder was used as the carrier, nickel as the active ingredient, impregnated for 2h, and calcined at 300 °C for 2h. The catalyst was used to Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation of methylene blue simulated printing and dyeing wastewater. The effect of the amount of catalyst, the amount of catalyst, the reaction temperature and the reaction time on the treatment efficiency and the effect of the self-made catalyst on the simulated wastewater with different concentration gradient were studied in the experiment. The results showed that when the reaction conditions were H2O2 8ml/L, catalyst 12g/L and reaction time 1h, the degradation rate of methylene blue reached more than 77% for the wastewater with concentration ranging from 40 mg/L to 200 mg/L. In addition, at a temperature of 30 DEG C, the wastewater, the concentration was 80mg/L, degradation rate was up to 85.70%.

To meet the challenges of the big data age, an urgent requirement from diverse manufacturing industries is to develop a systematic time-variant methodology to make good use of the condition parameters to benefit more from the monitoring point of view. With condition-based Statistical Process Control (SPC), we develop a time-variant Exponentially Weighted Moving Average-Cumulative Sum (EWMA-CUSUM) anomaly detection mechanism which can monitor real-time multi-condition parameters, as well as multi-output quality characteristics simultaneously and efficiently. This technique enables the process user to conduct the visualization in real-time, thus, affording the representation of the information from huge volume of data. In order to demonstrate the implementation for the monitoring of a real manufacturing process, the Wire Electrochemical Tuning (WECT) process is adopted as a practical application. The proposed mechanism is superior to the conventional univariate charting mechanism by 18.75% in terms of detection accuracy and it has great potential to be employed in a large area of factorial applications.

This article studies a unique feature of the binomial CUSUM chart in which the difference (d t - d 0 ) is replaced by (d t - d 0 )2 in the formulation of the cumulative sum C t (where dt and d0 are the actual and in-control numbers of nonconforming units, respectively, in one sample). The results of the performance studies reveal that this new feature is able to increase the detection effectiveness when fraction nonconforming p becomes three to four times large as the in-control value p 0 .

A typical internal flow passage of sprinkler is composed of bearing nipple, bend, tube and nozzle. For a medium or large size sprinkler, a unique straightening vane is often installed inside tube in attempts to minimize internal turbulence and to increase radius of sprinkler. To investigate the effect of different structural parameters and installed positions of straightening vane on the hydraulic performances of sprinkler becomes more and more important. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach can be successfully used to simulate the flow characteristics in internal flow passage. In this study, several turbulence models and different mesh types were utilized for different structural characteristics of straightening vanes in search of optimal CFD methods for sprinkler. The distributions of velocity, pressure and turbulence kinetic energy for different straightening vanes at inlet pressures ranging 250-500kPa were obtained. The calculated results revealed that turbulence kinetic energy is reduced significantly at nozzle outlet for sprinkler with straightening vane and the flow rate increases by 8.5% compared with sprinkler without straightening vane. In addition, the relationship between inlet pressure and flow rate for different nozzles were also predicted. Comparisons of CFD predictions with experimental data were presented for a typical PY140 impact sprinkler. The results of the simulated and experimental data were in good agreement. Finally optimized geometrical parameters of straightening vanes were brought forward.