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Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevalence is increasing as aging advances worldwide, but its diagnosis is difficult due to atypical early clinical symptoms. Therefore, exploring new and reliable imaging techniques to improve early diagnosis rate of AD has become an important challenge in medical research. Objective To assess the correlation of amide proton content in brain with clinical symptoms of AD. Methods 41 AD patients over 55 years old in Affiliated Psychological Hospital of Anhui Medical University were enrolled from November 2019 to August 2021, and 37 healthy volunteers were recruited at the same time. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Rating Scale (BEHAVE-AD) were used to evaluate the cognitive function, and behavioral symptoms, respectively. APTw MRI was used to take cephalograms. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between content of brain amide protons and psychiatric symptom factors in AD patients. Results (1) The results showed that the MMSE and BEHAVE-AD scores were significantly different between AD patients and healthy controls (P

Byline: Peng-Cheng Zhu, Xun Li, Yong Kang, Jian Chen Improving power quality for sensitive load by a Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) in a distributed generation system is presented in this paper. The power balance of a UPQC, consisting of back-to-back connected series and shunt Active Filters (AF), is analysed. Based on the analysis a novel control scheme is established in a 2-phase Synchronous Rotating d-q Frame (SRF). In this control scheme, the series AF is controlled as a current source and makes the input current sinusoidal, while the shunt AF is controlled as a voltage source and keeps the load voltage in the normal value. With the proposed control strategy, the UPQC is capable of compensating not only harmonic and reactive currents of the load but also grid voltage distortion. There is no harmonic interference between harmonic-producing loads and harmonic-sensitive loads, which are connected on the common bus. The performance of a UPQC with the proposed control scheme under nonlinear load and grid voltage distortion is investigated with simulation as well as experimental works.

Background: Intracranial arterial narrowing is a significant factor leading to brief episodes of reduced blood flow to the brain, known as transient ischemic attacks, or full-blown strokes. While atherosclerosis is commonly associated with intracranial arterial narrowing, it is frequently of a non-atherosclerotic nature in younger patients., Case Summary: Here, we present the case of a young stroke patient with narrowing of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), characterized as non-atherosclerotic lesions, who experienced an ischemic stroke despite receiving standard drug therapy. The patient underwent digital subtraction angiography (DSA) to assess the entire network of blood vessels in the brain, revealing significant narrowing (approximately 80%) in the M1 segment of the right MCA. Subsequently, the patient underwent Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty to treat the stenosis in the right MCA's M1 segment. Follow-up DSA confirmed the resolution of stenosis in this segment. Although the remaining branches showed satisfactory blood flow, the vessel wall exhibited irregularities. A review of DSA conducted six months later showed no evident stenosis in the right MCA, with a smooth vessel wall., Conclusion: The use of drug-coated balloon angioplasty demonstrated favorable outcomes in repairing and reshaping the blood vessel wall in young patients. Therefore, it may be considered a promising treatment option for similar cases., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Anisodus tanguticus (Maxim.) Pascher is a Chinese traditional medicinal material and Tibet herb of local Qing-hai. The authors collected, tanguticus and wild Anisodus tanguticus (Maxim.) Pascher, and analyzed the contents of mineral elements such as K, Ca, Fe, Na and Mg by atomic absorption spetrometer, and P by 721 spectrophotometer. The results show that: samples in different places are all rich in Mg and Na while poor in P. At the same time, Ca has a negative correlation with other elements. Compared to the others, the amount of 4 elements is higher in wild Anisodus tanguticus is higher.

Objective: To evaluate the choice of operative method,timing of surgery and the outcome of tibia Pilon fractures., Methods: From March 1999 to November 2008, 52 patients of Pilon fractures were treated including 38 males and 14 females with the average age of 38 years old ranging from 23 to 59 years. There were 17 cases of open fractures and 35 cases of closed fractures. According to Ruedi-Allgower type,there were 6 cases of type I fracture, 29 cases of type II, 17 cases of type III. Thirty-three cases selected emergency surgery and 19 cases selected the selective operation, the average period between injury and surgery was 8.3 days. According to the type of fracture, open reduction and plate fixation of Trilobal, limited internal fixation combined with external fixation were applied for treatment of different surgical methods., Results: All patients were followed-up for from 10 to 55 months (averaged 28 months). According to Mazur's criterion, the result of treatment was evaluated as excellent in 28 cases,good in 14 and fair in 10. After operation, 5 cases occurrenced skin and soft tissue infection and necrosis, 1 case of nonunion healed again after bone graft in re-operation, 6 patients occurrenced ankle traumatic arthritis later., Conclusion: According to fracture type, degree of injury and timely and effective surgical treatment is the key to achieve a satisfactory effect, which can effectively avoid the occurrence of complications.

Objective: To investigate the transdifferentiation of pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) into smooth muscle-like cells under hypoxia and the role of myocardin therein., Methods: Recombinant plasmid psimyocardin (pSi), capable of silencing the expression of myocardin gene, was constructed by RNAi to be used to transfect the PAECs. Endothelial cells of adult pig pulmonary small arteries were purified by immunomagnetic purification technique, and divided into 4 groups: normoxia group (to be cultured in normoxic cell culture box containing 21% O(2), 5% CO2, and 74% N(2)), normoxia + pSi group, hypoxia group (to be cultured in cell box containing 1% O(2), 5% CO2, and 74% N(2)), and hypoxia + pSi group to be cultured for 1, 4, and 7 days respectively. Indirect fluorescence technique and morphological examination were used to identify the smooth muscle (SM) -like cells and the alpha-SM-actin positive cell ratio. RT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of myocardin., Results: Alpha-SM-actin positive cell could not be seen in the normoxia group and hypoxia 1 d group. The alpha-SM-actin positive cell rate of the hypoxia 7 days group was 2.07% +/- 0.06%, significantly higher than that of the hypoxia 4 d group (0.96% +/- 0.08%, P < 0.01). mRNA expression of myocardin gene could not be seen in the normoxia, normoxia + pSi, hypoxia 1 days, and hypoxia + pSi 1 days groups. The mRNA expression of myocardin gene of the hypoxia 7 days group was 0.23 +/- 0.03, significantly higher than that of the hypoxia 4 days group (0.14 +/- 0.01, P < 0.01). The mRNA expression levels of myocardin gene of the hypoxia + pSi 4 days and 7 days groups 0.03 +/- 0.02 and 0.05 +/- 0.01, both significantly lower than those of the hypoxia 4 days and 7 days groups respectively (0.14 +/- 0.01 and 0.23 +/- 0.03, both P < 0.01). The SM-like cell transdifferentiation rates of the hypoxia + pSi 4 days and 7 days groups were 0.19% +/- 0.07% and 0.21% +/- 0.04% respectively, both significantly lower than those of the corresponding hypoxia groups (0.96% +/- 0.08 and 2.07% +/- 0.06% respectively, both P < 0.01)., Conclusion: Some PAECs have the potential to transdifferentiate into SM-like cells and may be one of the resources of muscularization of peripheral small vessels. Hypoxia remarkably promotes this transdifferentiation and myocardin may play an important role in this process.