Search

The existing sparse imaging observation error estimation methods are to usually estimate the error of each observation position by substituting the error parameters into the iterative reconstruction process, which has a huge calculation cost. In this paper, by analysing the relationship between imaging results of single-observation sampling data and error parameters, a SAR observation error estimation method based on maximum relative projection matching is proposed. First, the method estimates the precise position parameters of the reference position by the sparse reconstruction method of joint error parameters. Second, a relative error estimation model is constructed based on the maximum correlation of base-space projection. Finally, the accurate error parameters are estimated by the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno method. Simulation and measured data of microwave anechoic chambers show that, compared to the existing methods, the proposed method has higher estimation accuracy, lower noise sensitivity, and higher computational efficiency.

The method of high temperature physical vapor transport (HTPVT) is an available approach to prepare silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics with high density and high purity. In the present work, α-SiC (6H-SiC) and β-SiC (3C-SiC) powders were used as starting materials respectively to fabricate SiC ceramics with HTPVT process, and the effects of starting materials on nucleation, density, microstructure and mechanical properties of SiC ceramics were investigated. It showed that at high temperature, the decomposition rate of β-SiC was higher than that of α-SiC, and at the initial nucleation stage, the average grain size of SiC crystal obtained with β-SiC starting materials was smaller than that with α-SiC starting materials, because higher vapour pressure of gas phase which decomposed by β-SiC starting materials facilitated nucleation and growth of SiC grains. Density of the resulted SiC ceramics using α-SiC and β-SiC as starting materials was 3.16 g·cm-3 and 3.17 g·cm-3, indicating close values, while, using β-SiC as the starting materials, the grain size was smaller, consequently, the flexure strength was higher. Increasing growth temperature from 2200°C to 2300°C, the densities and the flexure strength of the SiC ceramics using either α-SiC or β-SiC were decreased.

In this paper, a high-dense alumina ceramics were prepared through the two-step pressureless sintering process with high-purity alumina powder as raw materials and high-purity MgO as sintering aids. The effects of the sintering temperature in the first-step (T1) and the soaking time (t) in the second sintering step (T2) on the density, microstructure and mechanical properties of the alumina ceramics were studied. The results indicated that the relative density increased with the increase of T1 temperature whereas it increased and then decreased with the increase of MgO content. Higher T1 temperature and extended soaking time caused larger grain size, which accompanied with the Ostwald ripening of the grain and led to non-uniformity of grain size distribution. The addition of MgO was beneficial to the decrease in grain size due to pinning effect of the second phase. For samples with shorter soaking time, sintering with higher T1 temperature led to better mechanical properties because of its high density. However, for the long soaking time, all samples after sintering at different T1 temperature were fully-densified, so the grain size become to the dominant factor of strength, thus samples with lower T1 temperature exhibited better mechanical properties due to the refinement grain. Excessive addition of MgO resulted in defects, by which the strength increased firstly and then decreased slightly with the increased MgO content. For the samples with 2.5wt.% MgO, the optimum condition for the two-step pressureless sintering was T1=1450°C and T2=1400°C for 20h, and the obtained sample achieved the relative density of 96% and the strength of 507±32MPa.

In this paper, clay bonded silicon carbide was prepared through pressureless sintering process with silicon carbide dusting powder as raw materials and clay as sintering additive. The effects of the ball-milling method, sintering temperature and clay contents on the density, microstructure and mechanical properties of clay bonded silicon carbide refractory were studied. The planetary ball-milling was a good method to improve the density of the green body, and the density was increased simultaneously with an increase of the clay content. The liquid phase derived from low-melting eutectic mixtures of clay could prevent the superlative oxidation of silicon carbide. The mass increment of sintered samples decreased firstly and then increased at the sintering temperature range from 1250 to 1500 °C. The open porosity of samples decreased with the clay addition at a content range from 10 to 30 wt.%. The bending strength of the samples decreased firstly and then increased with the clay addition increasing. The optimum condition for preparing clay bonded silicon carbide with silicon carbide dusting powder was sintering at 1350 °C with 20 wt.% clay, and the obtained sample with a porosity of 24% achieved the bending strength of 78±7 MPa.

Transparent polycrystalline alumina with high bending strength has been fabricated using two-step pressureless sintering. The microstructure and mechanical property has been investigated by varying the MgO doping concentration and sintering parameters. The results showed that the grain size markedly decreased with the increasing content of MgO addition. Although the density of alumina could be increased by the higher temperature for the first sintering step, the larger grain would depress the bending strength. Hence, the optimum bending strength was achieved with 0.5 wt% MgO with the two-step sintering of 1450°C for 20 min and 1400°C for 20 h. The Vickers hardness of the transparent PCA increased doping content, and the variation tendency was well accelerated with the relative density, indicated that the porosity plays a more important on hardness than the grain size.

In this paper, reaction bonded silicon carbide (RBSC) was prepared by silicon infiltration with silicon carbide and carbon black as raw materials. The effects of the mixing methods with different binders on density of green body were compared. The influences of phenolic resin content, forming pressure, sintering temperature of samples on the performance of green body, mechanical microstructure and properties of RBSC were studied. The result shows that the density of green body by wet-mixing with alcohol-soluble binder (phenolic resin) was much better than semi-dry-mixing with usual water-soluble binders (polyvinyl alcohol and carboxy methyl cellulose sodium). The bending strength of green body prepared with phenolic resin at the content of 12 wt.% reached to the maximum value. The density of RBSC increased generally with phenolic resin content increasing at temperature range from 1550 to 1650 °C. The bending strength of RBSC increased firstly and then decreased with phenolic resin content increasing at a sintering temperature of 1600 °C. The optimum condition for fabricating RBSC was sintering at 1600 °C with 12 wt.% phenolic resin, the density, porosity and bending strength of the obtained RBSC was 3.06 g·cm-3, 0.05% and 370±54 MPa, respectively.

In this paper,the case reports on rug-induced liver injury( ADR cases) related to Gukang Capsules containing Psoralea corylifolia( Buguzhi,BGZ) were collected from the adverse reaction monitoring database from January 1,2012 to December 31,2016,and the in-patients cases with drug-induced liver injury admitted to a tertiary Class A liver disease hospital from January 1,2010 to December 31,2016 were also collected. These collected cases were re-evaluated and analyzed. 110 cases with liver injury related to this preparation were collected from adverse reaction monitoring database,and 55 cases of them received the preparation alone,mainly for fracture treatment( 52. 74%). Ninty one cases( 82. 72%) met the standard of the biochemical diagnostic criteria for drug-induced liver injury. 89. 01% of patients were over the age of 41 and women accounted for 60. 9%. The time from administration to liver injury was 1-208 days,with the median of 29 d. The dose of the preparation was 2. 4-4. 8 g per day,with a cumulative dose ranging from 3. 6-699. 6 g. The recovery and improvement rate reached 96. 70% after positive treatment. Seven inpatient cases related to the preparation were collected in a tertiary Class A liver disease hospital,6 females and 1 male. All of them were over 40 years old. Two cases reached the " suspicious diagnosis" standard and 5 cases reached the " clinical diagnosis" standard in Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of herb-induced liver injury. Six patients had a good prognosis effect,but another one had liver failure. This preparation is commonly used in fracture,osteoarthritis and other diseases,with remarkable curative effect. However,ADR cases and hospital cases all indicated the risk of liver injury. There was no significant correlation between the time and dose of drug use and the occurrence of liver injury.The induced-liver injury may have immunological heterogeneity,thus regular monitoring of liver function should be taken during clinical use.

We reported microwave measurements on a nanoscale MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction having an elliptical shape with large aspect ratios to obtain enough in-plane shape anisotropy to ensure free layer magnetization along the long axis. Combined with the magnetization of a synthetic antiferromagnet pinned layer along the short axis, this results in the perpendicular configuration between the magnetizations of free and pinned layers. A steady high frequency oscillation up to 5 GHz was achieved in such devices at zero magnetic field. Meanwhile, a large frequency tunability of 0.11 Hz·cm2/mA (2.67 GHz/mA) was obtained. The micromagnetic simulations confirm the origin of the high oscillation frequency of our spin transfer nano-oscillators (STNOs). These results suggest the great possibility of improved integration and potential application of STNOs for developing the next-generation of on-chip oscillators.

Objective To investigate the possible mechanism of San-Cao Granule (SCG, 三草颗粒) mediating antiliver fifibrosis.

By introducing novel strategies in Invasive Weed Optimization IWO, a hybrid algorithm called IWO-simplified quadratic approximation SQA is proposed, in which an adaptive standard deviation is designed to improve the convergence performances of the original IWO, and SQA is embedded into IWO as a local search operator to enhance the overall search capability of the algorithm. Simulated results for six benchmark functions show that the proposed algorithm performs better than the original IWO algorithm. In addition, the proposed algorithm is used to the pattern synthesis of array antennas. Compared to the genetic algorithm GA and particle swarm optimization PSO, the advantages of IWO-SQA algorithm are shown. As another application, the phase-only pattern reconfigurable arrays are synthesized by IWO-SQA algorithm, and the numerical results show that IWO-SQA algorithm is superior to GA. All the testing results show that it is an effective improvement to embed SQA into IWO algorithm. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:154-163, 2015.

Three diamine monomers (ethylenediamine, butylenediamine, and p-phenylenediamine) were selected for cross-linking graphene oxide (GO) to prepare composite graphene oxide-framework (GOF) membranes through filtration using a pressure-assisted self-assembly technique. The membranes were applied to separate an ethanol–water mixture by pervaporation. Unmodified GO comprised only hydrogen bonds and π–π interactions, but after cross-linking it with a diamine, attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that the diamine was chemically bonded both to GO and the membrane support. Moreover, GO hydrophilicity was substantially altered; water contact angle increased from 24.4° to 80.6° (from cross-linking with an aliphatic structure of diamine to cross-linking with an aromatic structure). Results of X-ray diffraction showed that d-spacing in GOF layers varied from 10.4 to 8.7 A. For GOFs presoaked in 90 wt % ethanol–water, covalent bonds between the layer a...

Ethnopharmacological relevance Pinelliae Rhizoma (PR), the dried tuber of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit., is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb. It is commonly used for treating cancer, cough and phlegm. To treat cancer, Chinese medicine practitioners often use raw PR; while to treat cough and phlegm, they usually use Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine (PRZA, raw PR processed with ginger juice and alumen as adjuvant materials). Currently, the producing protocol of PRZA varies greatly among different places in China. This study aims to standardize the manufacturing procedure for PRZA. We also evaluated the impact of processing on the bioactivities and chemical profile of raw PR. Materials and methods We used the orthogonal design to optimize the manufacturing procedure of PRZA at bench scale, and validated the optimized procedure in pilot-scale production. The MTT assay was used to compare the cytotoxicities of raw PR and PRZA in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Animal models (ammonia liquor-induced cough model and phenol red secretion model) were used to compare the antitussive and expectorant effects of raw PR and PRZA, respectively. The chemical profiles of raw PR and PRZA samples were compared using a newly developed ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS) method. Results The standardized manufacturing procedure for PRZA is as follows: soak raw PR in water until the center of the cut surface is devoid of a dry core, after that, boil the herb in water (for each 100 kg raw PR, 12.5 kg alumen and 25 L freshly squeezed ginger juice are added) for 6 h, and then take out and dry them. The cytotoxicity of PRZA was less potent than that of raw PR. Intragastric administration of raw PR or PRZA demonstrated antitussive and expectorant effects in mice. These effects of PRZA were more potent than that of raw PR at the dose of 3 g/kg. By comparing the chemical profiles, we found that six peaks were lower, while nine other peaks were higher in PRZA than in raw PR. Six compounds corresponding to six individual changed peaks were tentatively identified by matching with empirical molecular formulae and mass fragments. Conclusion The manufacturing procedure for PRZA was standardized. This protocol can be used for PRZA industrial production. The bioactivity assay results of raw PR and PRZA (produced using the standardized protocol) support the common practice for the clinical applications of these two decoction pieces. Moreover, raw PR and PRZA showed different chemical profiles. Further studies are warranted to establish the relationship between the alteration of chemical profiles and the changes of medicinal properties caused by processing.

Safe shaft tower operation is an important guarantee for mine production. It’s necessary for monitoring to develop more effective techniques because the traditional measurements are inadequate for the purpose. For this reason, GPS kinematic positioning (RTK) technique was presented to accomplish the task, meanwhile, the main error sources (multipath error) was systematically analyzed. In addition, the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD)-Wavelet model was proposed for extracting multipath model. To eliminate the systematic errors, the EMD decomposes the time series to high-frequency part and low-frequency part with the standards of scale selection, which is given in terms of the mean of the accumulated standardized modes, and the tendency of high-frequency part is extracted by Wavelet. Then low-frequency part and the tendency of high-frequency are reconstructed based on EMD theory and the systematic errors mitigation model is demonstrated as well. The scheme of the multipath error reduction based on the EMD-Wavelet is suggested. The experiment shows that the proposed scheme dramatically improves the precision of dynamic coordinate series about 40-70% after multipath error mitigation.

We report electric field control of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in MgO/Fe/Pt multilayers. The interfacial DMI is obtained and quantified by Brillouin light scattering measurements based on the frequency nonreciprocity of spin waves in a ferromagnet. The magnitude of the induced DMI is found to linearly increase as a function of electric field intensity. The efficiency of electric field control of the interfacial DMI characterized as a ratio of the DMI energy change to the electric field, which is found to be equal to 67 fJ/(Vm) with a positive electric field. We further demonstrate that the origin of the enhanced DMI results from the MgO/Fe interface. The Rashba spin-orbit coupling and electric field induced anisotropy at the MgO/Fe interface might be responsible for the enhanced interfacial DMI. Our findings open up a way for exploring the spintronic devices with a tunable DMI.

Taking the North China block as the demonstration zone of “Images of the Earth's Crust & Upper Mantle (IGCP Project 474)”, we calculated the average velocity and thickness of the upper, middle, and lower crust in Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan (BTT) and adjacent areas by integrating crustal velocity structure from eight wideangle reflection seismic profiles in this region. Using Kriging interpolating technique, the authors have constructed many significant images such as average velocity, thickness and spatial variation of the bottom boundary depths of upper crust, mid-crust and lower crust. These images show that uplift and depression spreading along nearly EW and NE directions dominate in the study region. Faulted-swells and faulted- depressions controlled by NE faults are present too. The formation of geological structure is closely related to tectonic movement that occurred since the Mesozoic in the study region. The authors inferred that there were at least three stages of intense tectonic movements in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic in the study region. Combining with regional tectonic researches, the authors conclude that the nearly EW uplifts and depressions formed in the Triassic and the NE-trending uplifts and depressions formed in the Jurassic. The faulted-uplifts and faulted depressions controlled by NE faults emerged in the Cretaceous. Because the middle crust is a low-velocity layer and its deformation is mainly ductile, which is completely different from the upper and lower crust, it is thickened and has low velocity in uplifted areas, whereas its thickness decreased and has high velocity in depressions. The overall strength of the crust is reduced in places of thick middle crust, where faulting and deformation are easy to occur in later tectonic movements, thus affecting the occurrence of present earthquakes in the study region.

Toxicity of different processed was evaluated Polygoni Multiflori Radix by determining the hepatotoxic potency for selecting processing technology. Process Polygoni Multiflori Radix using high pressure steamed, Black Bean high pressure steamed, atmospheric steamed for different time. Using normal human hepatocytes (L02) as evaluation model, hepatotoxic potency as index to evaluate hepatotoxic potency of different processed Polygoni Multiflori Radix. Analysis chemical composition of some processed products by UPLC-MS. Hepatotoxic bioassay method cloud evaluate the toxicity of different Polygoni Multiflori Radix samples. Different processing methods can reduce the toxicity of Polygoni Multiflori Radix, high pressure steamed three hours attenuated was better. Different processing methods have different effects on chemical constituents of Polygoni Multiflori Radix. Comparing with crude sample, the contents of gallic acid, 2,3,5,4-tetrahydroxyl diphenylethylene-2-O-glucoside, emodin-8-O-beta glucoside and emodin were decreased in processed products with 3 kinds of different methods. The change trend of 2,3,5,4-tetrahydroxyl diphenylethylene-2-O-glucoside content was similar with hepatotoxic potency. Different processing methods can reduce the toxicity of Polygoni Multiflori Radix. Processing methods and time attenuated obvious impact on toxicity. Recommended further research on the attehuated standard control of Polygoni Multiflori Radix concocted.

To investigate the possible mechanism of San-Cao Granule (SCG, ) mediating antiliver fibrosis.A total of 60 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the normal control group, porcine serum-treated group, ursodesoxycholic acid (UDCA, 60 mg/kg), SCG (3.6 g/kg) group, SCG (1.8 g/kg) group and SCG (0.9 g/kg) group, with 10 rats in each group. Liver fibrosis was induced with porcine serum by intraperitoneal injection for 8 weeks, except for the normal control group. Then, the rats in the three SCG-treated groups and UDCA group were administered SCG and UDCA respectively for 4 weeks. The serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), albumin (ALB), total bilirubin (TBIL), hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), and type IV collagen (IVC) were examined using commercial kits and hepatic histopathology was examined with hematoxylin and eosin and Masson staining. Moreover, the protein expression levels of high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), phosphorylated mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 3 (p-Smad3), Smad7, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were determined by western blot, immunohistochemistry and real time quantitative-reverse transcription polymerase.Both SCG (3.6 and 1.8 g/kg) and UDCA significantly ameliorated the liver fibrosis induced by porcine serum as indicated by retarding the serum levels increasing of ALT, AST, TBIL, HA, LN and IVC and preventing the serum level reducing of ALB compared with the model group (all P0.01). Meanwhile, the collagen deposition was attenuated by SCG and UDCA treatment. Furthermore, SCG markedly reduced the expressions of HMGB1, TGF-β1, p-Smad3, TLR4, MyD88, NF-κB and α-SMA, and enhanced the expression of the Smad7 compared with the model group (all P0.01).SCG ameliorates hepatic fibrosis possibly through inhibiting HMGB1, TLR4/NF-κB and TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.

To reveal the characterization of interaction between Chinese and western medicinal injections, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was applied to evaluating the interaction of Yiqi Fumai injection (YQFM, as mode drug) with epinephrine hydrochloride injection (YS) and 5% glucose injection (5% GS). The diversification of Gibbs free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH), and entropy (ΔS) were determined to judge the reaction types of colliquefaction procedures of different injections. Meanwhile, the fingerprints of YQFM before and after combined with the various injections were compared to validate the results. This work demonstrated that during the titration procedure of YQFM and YS, [ΔH]T [ΔS] , that was to say the reaction was enthalpy-driving. And the reactive profile indicated that a great deal of heat gave out during the procedure. Obviously, chemical reactions happened and the internal component changed. On the other side, the reaction of YQFM combined with 5% GS was entropy-driving, because [ΔH]T [ΔS]. The reactive profile showed there was only a little heat released. So non-chemical reactions happened and the major ingredients did not change. ITC could be applied to the evaluation on compatibility of other kinds of Chinese and western medicinal injection combination.

The Young's modulus and residual stresses of electroplated copper film microbridges were measured. Special ceramic shaft structure was designed to solve the problem of getting the load-deflection curves of the microbridges from a nanoindentation system equipped with a normal Berkovich probe. Theoretical analysis of the load-deflection curves of the microbridges is proposed to evaluate the Young's modulus and residual stress of the copper films simultaneously. The calculated results based on the experimental measurements showed that the average Young's modulus and residual stress of the electroplated copper films are 115.2 GPa and 19.3 MPa, respectively, while the Young's modulus measured by the nanoindenter for the same copper film with silicon substrate is 110±1.67 GPa.

To compare the bidirectional effect of rhubarb total anthraquinone (TA) and total tannins (TT) on rats' liver.One hundred rats were randomly divided into 10 groups, i.e., the blank group, the model group, the blank + high dose TA group, the blank +low dose TA group, the blank + high dose TT group, the blank + low dose TT group, the model + high dose TA group, the model + low dose TA group, the model +high dose TT group, and the model + low dose TT group, 10 in each group. The carbon tetrachloride (CCI4) was used to prepare the acute liver injury rat model. TA and TT of rhubarb (at 5.40 g crude drugs/kg and 14.69 g crude drugs/kg) were intragastrically administrated to rats in all groups except the blank group and the model group, once daily for 6 successive days.The general state of rats, biochemical indices such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), laminin (LN), hyaluronic acid (HA), transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1), as well pathological results of rat liver tissues. Finally the protection laws of TA and TT for rats' liver were analyzed using factor analysis.Compared with the blank control group, all biochemical indices increased in the blank group (P0.05, P0.01). HA also increased in the blank + high dose TA group; AST, ALT, and HA also increased in the blank +high dose TT group (P0.05). Compared with the model group, AST, ALT, ALP, HA, and TGF-beta1 significantly decreased in the model + low dose TA group, the model + high dose TA group, the model + low dose TT group (P0.05, P0.01). Serum AST, ALT, and ALP also decreased in the model + high dose TT group (P0.05, P0.01). Pathological results showed that mild swollen liver cells in the model + high dose TA group. Fatty degeneration and fragmental necrosis around the central veins occurred in the blank + high dose TA group. The pathological injury was inproved in the model +low dose TA group. Two common factors, liver fibrosis and liver cell injury, were extracted by using factor analysis. TA showed stronger improvement of the two common factors than TT.Rhubarb TA and TT showed protective and harmful effects on rats' liver. At an equivalent dosage, TA had better liver protection than TT. High dose TT played a role in liver injury to some extent.

An oscillatory variation of saturation magnetization ( M s ) with the thickness of Cr layers has been found in Fe-Si/Cr multilayered films prepared by rf sputtering under 5 mTorr Ar charging pressure. A conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) study showed that the oscillatory variation of M s does not result from antiferromagnetic coupling effect, but mainly from an oscillatory change in the paramagnetic component of the Fe-Si layers. This oscillatory change in the paramagnetic component in the Fe-Si layers is due the unusual interlayer coupling effect through the Cr layers.

This paper presents the design of a digital 2.4 GHz transmitter for ZigBee application. Low power and high frequency precision is realized by the proposed TDC in ADPLL. Tradeoff between loop bandwidth and data rate is avoided by building an all pass path from data input to DCO output, and no mismatch will happen between low pass and high pass paths. In this design, the bandwidth is kept below 200 KHz while the data rate is set to be 2 Mbps. The maximum deviation from ideal frequency is 63 KHz with TDC quantization error consideration.

This paper is aimed to provide the methods of quality control and bioassay of traditional Chinese medicine injections including bioassay method. Shuanghuanglian freeze-dried powder for injection (SFPI) was chosen as study object. HPLC-ELSD fingerprints of SFPI had been established and the samples were differentiated by similarity calculation. Meanwhile, biological profiles of SFPI on Escherichia coli had been established by microcalorimetry. The similarity values were calculated using the correlation coefficient, based on quantitative thermo-kinetic parameters (T2m, Tj, I%). The results indicated that HPLC-ELSD fingerprints, which showed content changes of chemical components, could not monitor minimal variation of different samples, especially that of biological pollutants, while biological profiles could sensitively detect antibiotic activity alterations of the samples, which were kept under specific conditions. In conclusion, characterized by two-dimension, microcalorimetry could supply thermograms as biological profiles characterized to describe the bioactivity of drugs. This study could clearly demonstrate that the correlative detection was proposed as an efficient strategy for quality control of SFPI, based on HPLC-ELSD fingerprints and biological profiles, which could detect quality fluctuation of samples early and quickly and predict the potential adverse drug events (ADE) for ensuring clinical safety.

Fe-Si/Cr multilayered films with amorphous magnetic Fe-Si layers have been prepared with the rf-sputtering method at different Ar charging pressures. Samples with antiferromagnetic exchange coupling can be obtained only at a higher Ar charging pressure, ${\mathit{P}}_{\mathrm{Ar}}$. When ${\mathit{P}}_{\mathrm{Ar}}$=5 mTorr and the Fe-Si layers are as thin as 19 \AA{}, an oscillatory function of magnetization versus the thickness of Cr layers with a period of about 10 \AA{} is obtained. This is an effect specific to interlayer coupling in the multilayered films, and is caused by oscillatory changes of the internal field in Fe-Si layers.

To investigate the correlations of serum interleukin-18 (IL-18) level and IL-18 gene promoter polymorphisms to the development of sepsis in children.Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the authors tested the serum IL-18 level in 90 patients with sepsis and 123 normal controls, and their single nucleotide polymorphisms of the promoter region of IL-18 gene at position -607C/A and -137G/C were detected using polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primers method and sequencing technique.(1) The serum IL-18 level in sepsis groups was (196.56 +/- 157.32) pg/ml that was significantly higher than (66.16 +/- 41.63) pg/ml in normal controls (P0.01), the more severe the degree of sepsis was, the more significantly higher the serum IL-18 level was. The serum IL-18 level in non serious sepsis group was (152.87 +/- 114.96) pg/ml that was significantly higher than (66.16 +/- 41.63) pg/ml in normal controls, the serum IL-18 level in serious sepsis group was (191.98 +/- 169.72) pg/ml that was significantly higher than that in non serious sepsis group, and the serum IL-18 level in extremely serious sepsis patients was (323.89 +/- 159.35) pg/ml, the difference was highly significant (P = 0.000). The difference was significant among the groups with different severity of sepsis (P0.01). There was a negative correlation between PCIS (pediatric critical illness score) of sepsis and the serum IL-18 level (P0.01). (2) There were polymorphisms in IL-18 gene promoter of matched healthy children and sepsis in children. The GG genotype frequency (61.8%) of IL-18-137G/C in healthy children was the highest, followed by GC genotype (35.8%) and CC genotype (2.4%) in sequence. The G allele frequency (79.7%) was higher in IL-18-137G/C of healthy children than C allele (20.3%). The GG genotype frequency (71.1%) of IL-18-137G/C in septic children was the highest, the next were GC genotype (26.7%) and CC genotype (2.2%). The G allele frequency (84.4%) was higher in IL-18-137G/C of septic children than C allele (15.6%). The CA genotype frequency (61.0%) of IL-18-607C/A in healthy children was the highest, followed by CC genotype (26.8%) and AA genotype (12.2%). The C allele frequency (57.3%) was higher in IL-18-607C/A of healthy children than A allele (42.7%). The CA genotype frequency (76.7%) of IL-18-607C/A in septic children was the highest, followed by CC genotype (21.1%) and AA genotype (2.2%) in sequence. The C allele frequency (59.4%) was higher in IL-18-607C/A of septic children than A allele (40.6%). (3) The genotype frequency of IL-18-607 CA was 76.7% in sepsis groups that was significantly higher than 61.0% in normal controls, and the genotype frequency of -607 AA was 2.2% in sepsis groups that was significantly lower than 12.2% in normal controls, the difference was significant (P0.05). (4) In the order of -137CC, -137GC, -137GG, the serum IL-18 level in normal controls were as follows: (45.67 +/- 28.36) pg/ml, (53.27 +/- 37.91) pg/ml, (76.91 +/- 42.44) pg/ml, and with (140.50 +/- 60.10) pg/ml, (184.42 +/- 157.33) pg/ml, (237.02 +/- 161.76) pg/ml respectively in sepsis groups. In the order of -607AA, -607CA, -607CC, the serum IL-18 level in normal controls were: (48.80 +/- 32.11) pg/ml, (68.41 +/- 42.53) pg/ml, (70.17 +/- 43.87) pg/ml; and with (141.50 +/- 64.35) pg/ml, (151.21 +/- 121.19) pg/ml, (211.16 +/- 163.64) pg/ml respectively in sepsis groups. The difference was not significant among different groups (P0.05).The serum IL-18 level in sepsis groups was significantly higher than that in normal controls, which was related to the severity of sepsis. It was possible that the genotype of -607CA carriers was susceptible to sepsis, which mean that the genotype of -607CA might be susceptible genotype of sepsis. However, the genotype of -607AA might play an oppose role in the risk of sepsis.

To study the clinical, radiologic and pathologic features of solitary plasmacytoma of spine.The clinical, radiologic and pathologic features, as well as treatment and follow-up data, of 13 solitary plasmacytoma of spine cases were retrieved and analyzed. Immunohistochemical study using EnVision method for LCA, CD19, CD20, CD79a, CD3, CD7, PC, MUM1, CD138, IgG, IgM, kappa, lambda and Ki-67 was carried out.All the tumours were primarily located in the vertebrae (including 9 cases in thoracic vertebrae and 4 cases in lumbar vertebrae). The male-to-female ratio was 3.3:1. The age of the patients ranged from 42 to 69 years (mean age = 56 years). The commonest symptom was pain in the surrounding regions. The degree of neurologic disturbance mostly depended on the extent of vertebral destruction and structural instability of the spine. Radiologic examination showed mainly osteolytic lesions in vertebrae. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated the presence of heterogeneous intensity inside the involved vertebrae (low in T1 weighted and high in T2 weighted images). Histologic examination showed diffuse infiltration by malignant cells. In well-differentiated plasmacytomas, the tumor cells resembled normal plasma cells. In poorly differentiated examples, the cellular morphology mimicked that of the centroblasts. The interstitial stroma was scanty and contained plenty of vessels, sometimes with formation of blood lakes. Amyloid deposition was present in some of the cases. Immunohistochemical study showed that the tumor cells were positive for CD79a and negative for CD20. Light chain restriction was detected in all the 13 cases studied. Plasma cell marker PC was expressed in all cases, while IgG was positive in 5 cases, IgM in 1 case, MUM1 in 10 cases and CD138 in 8 cases. Ki-67 index varied from 10% to 50%. All cases were operated, with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy given.Correlation of clinical, radiologic and pathologic features is important in diagnosis of solitary plasmacytoma of spine. The possibility of multiple myeloma needs to be excluded. Early detection by radiologic examination, local surgical resection, post-operative chemoradiotherapy and long-term follow-up are prudent for successful management of this condition.

To evaluate the teaching effects of emergency care simulator (ECS) combined with problem-based learning (PBL) in teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).42 medical students were randomly divided into 2 equal groups, control group receiving PBL and training of specific operation such as artificial respiration, external cardiac compression, tracheal intubation, and defibrillation, and ECS group receiving ECS training in addition. Then test was given to record the scores in artificial respiration. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the feedback.There were no significant differences in the scores of artificial respiration, external cardiac compression, tracheal intubation, and defibrillation between the 2 groups (all P0.05). There were significant differences between the Control group and the ECS group (P0.05). The percentages of students with enhanced emergency awareness, emergency skill, team spirit and cooperative effort, with improved analytic skill in clinical setting and in amalgamating the theoretic learning with textbook knowledge and clinical practice were all higher in the ECS group than in the control group (all P0.05). More than 86% of the students considered that there was significant difference between these two groups.Using ECS combined with PBL in teaching CPR technique directly involves the medical students in "emergency practice", resolving of "all sorts of problems", enhancing emergency awareness, and emergency skill. It can improve teaching quality significantly that is in accordance with the development of modern medicine.

Because the orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) was performed widely in recent 5 years throughout China, the proportion of recipients whose graft function deteriorated to be retransplantation candidates increased gradually. This study was undertaken to analyze clinical experience of orthotopic liver retransplantation (re-OLT) at our center.The medical records of 80 patients who had undergone liver retransplantation at our center from January 1999 to July 2005 were analyzed retrospectively, including indications and timing of retransplantation, surgical techniques, and the causes of death.The commonest cause leading to hepatic graft loss and subsequent retransplantation was biliary complications in 36 patients (45%). The patients underwent retransplantation more than 30 days after their primary transplant recovered better than those who underwent retransplantation within 8-30 days after primary transplantation (perioperative mortality 19.6% versus 70%). Sepsis (12 of 22 patients, 54.5%) and multiple organ failure (4 of 22 patients, 18.2%) were leading causes of re-OLT recipient deaths.Proper indications and optimal operative time, surgical procedures, perioperative monitoring and appropriate postoperative treatment contribute to the improvement of the survival rate of patients after liver retransplantation.

Fe-Si/Cr multilayer films with Cr layers of various thicknesses have been obtained by rf sputtering at low Ar charging pressure of 5 mTorr. On increasing the thickness of the Cr layers an oscillatory variation of magnetization with a period of about 10 A is found. This is caused by the oscillatory change in the thickness of the dead layer.