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Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease characterized by goiter and hyperthyroidism, and 25% patients develop GO. Traditional treatment options, such as antithyroid drugs, radioiodine or thyroidectomy, have remained largely unchanged over the past 70 years. For many patients, there is a high rate of recurrence after antithyroid drugs and lifelong hypothyroidism after ablation and thyroidectomy. The symptoms and quality of life of some patients have not been effectively improved. The clinical demand for new therapeutic regimens, coupled with a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology and immunobiology of Graves' disease, has led to the emergence of several new therapeutic ideas, including biologics, small molecule peptides, immunomodulators and teprotumumab, a specific antibody targeting IGF-1R. Besides, the elements of TCM have attracted more and more interests in modern medicine, because some effective components have been successfully used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Based on the pathophysiology and efficacy of clinical management and treatment in Graves' hyperthyroidism, here we review the new strategies under investigation and summarize the effective components of traditional Chinese medicine used for Graves' hyperthyroidism, and explore their mechanisms. These therapies have opened a new window for the treatment of Graves' disease, but the exact mechanism and the research direction still need to be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic matter is the material basis for shales to generate hydrocarbon, as well as the main reservoir space and seepage channel for shale gas. When the thermal evolution degree is consistent, the organic carbon content in present shales is subject to the abundance of primitive sedimentary organic matter. Deep geofluids significantly influence the sedimentary organic matter's enrichment, but the mechanism remains unclear. This paper is aimed at determining how hydrothermal and volcanic activities affected the enrichment of sedimentary organic matter by studying lower Cambrian shales in the lower Yangtze region and upper Ordovician-lower Silurian shales. Oxidation-reduction and biological productivity are used as indicators in the study. The result shows that hydrothermal or volcanic activities affected the enrichment of sedimentary organic matter by influencing climate changes and the nutrients' sources on the waterbody's surface and reducing water at the bottom. In the lower Cambrian shales of the Wangyinpu Formation in the lower Yangtze region, hydrothermal origin caused excess silicon. During the sedimentary period of the lower and middle-upper Wangyinpu Formation, vigorous hydrothermal activities increased the biological productivity on the waterbody's surface and intensified the reducibility at the bottom of the waterbody, which enabled the rich sedimentary organic matter to be well preserved. During the sedimentary period of the lower upper Ordovician Wufeng Formation and the lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the upper Yangtze region, frequent volcanic activities caused high biological productivity on the waterbody surface and strong reducibility at the bottom of the waterbody. As a result, the abundant organic matter deposited from the water surface can be well preserved. During the sedimentary period of the upper Longmaxi Formation, volcanic activities died down gradually then disappeared, causing the biological productivity on the water surface to decrease. Besides, the small amount of organic matter deposited from the water surface was destroyed due to oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abundance of organic matter in shales, which has a direct effect on the hydrocarbon generation potential of shales, is an important organic geochemical parameter for evaluating shale gas reservoirs. The total organic carbon content (TOC content) in shale is controlled by the abundance of original sedimentary organic matter. Therefore, it is very important to study the mechanism of organic matter enrichment in shale. In this paper, the Lower Cambrian marine shales from the Lower Yangtze region are selected as the research subject, most of which originate from a typical area well called Well JXY1. The degree of pyritization (DOP) is used to characterize the redox environment of the water body, while the P/Al ratio is used to analyze the biological productivity of paleoseawater. The paleosalinity of seawater is calculated via carbon and oxygen isotope analysis. In addition, the early Cambrian hydrothermal activities were studied by using core description; Si, Al, Fe, and Mn elemental analysis; and oxygen isotope calculations. The results show that during the early Cambrian Wangyinpu sedimentary period, the seawater was an anaerobic water body with H2S, and the oxygen concentration was approximately 0 mL/L. In the middle stages of the Wangyinpu sedimentary period, the water body had the strongest reducibility and the highest biological productivity. Moreover, the paleoocean in this period between the Yangtze plate and the Cathaysian plate was greatly affected by hydrothermal activities, with temperatures ranging from 90°C to 120°C. Active hydrothermal activities promoted high biological productivity and an anaerobic environment, both of which were conducive to the preservation and enrichment of organic matter, resulting in extremely high TOC content in the Wangyinpu shales (from 6.5% to approximately 16%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 2 years, a great progress in petroleum and gas exploration has been made in tight lacustrine carbonate rocks of E32 in the Yingxi area. Many high-yield commercial oil flow wells with more than 1000 tons of oil production per day have been found, but their reservoir space type and storage capacity are the key issues highly concerned and disputed by many explorationists. According to the study on systemic petrology and mineralogy, analysis of physical property, study on capillary pressure curve, analysis of ultra-micro crystal morphology, analysis of micro-area geochemical composition, and other comprehensive analysis, and pore types of the E32 reservoir are mainly intercrystalline pores of dolomite, and a small number of dissolution phenomena have been found. Therefore, large-scale oil and gas reservoirs can be formed. The analysis involves these key results and evidences: (1) under the microscope and scanning electron microscope, many intercrystalline pores are developed in dolomite rocks, presenting a "high-wide platform" phenomenon on the capillary pressure curves to imply "small bore—large quantity". (2) The electron probe shows that the molecular formula of dolomite is Ca(Mg0.96Fe0.04)(CO3)2. In the penecontemporaneous dolomitization process, intercrystalline pores come from volume shrinkage when Mg2+ ions replace Ca2+ ions, and a small number of Fe2+ ions are involved in this chemical reaction. The 13.36% plane porosity can be formed in ideal conditions. (3) According to the statistical data, intercrystalline pores are enlarged by organic acids in several samples, no evidence is available for leaching dissolution of atmospheric water because of exposure, and many types of feldspar do not dissolve. The reservoir rocks are formed due to a high deposition rate. (4) According to the measured pore sizes and the values based on the chemical theory, the pore size is in the range of 0.4–1.07 μm. These pores can store all oil, gas, and symbiosis substances, which can flow or migrate in the pores because of the pore sizes. The pictures of fluorescence thin sections and the backscattered electron images of SEM show that these micro-pores are full of hydrocarbons, creating the oil and gas accumulation pattern of "containing oil for the whole sag" and "producing oil for each well" in the Yingxi area. Based on the oil and gas accumulation model, the Yingxi area is an integrated oil and gas field with the most potential and industrial value in Qaidam Basin. The research results are crucial to the petroleum and gas exploration of carbonates in a saline lacustrine basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tight sandstone reservoir of the Donghetang Formation underwent complex diagenetic processes for which the controlling factors remain unknown. Here, we present a case study of the lower member of this formation and show that this part of the reservoir consists mostly of lithic quartz sandstone with poor physical characteristics. Using core observation, thin section identification, electronic microprobe, scanning electronic microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and inclusion fluorescence microscopy, we identified five major diagenetic processes: compaction, cementation, dissolution, metasomatism, and hydrocarbon charging. Compaction and cementation have negative effects on petrophysical properties (referred to porosity and permeability of sandstone in this paper), and dissolution improves these properties. Diagenesis is affected by the depositional environment, and clastic constituents control compaction and dissolution; burial history and the geotemperature field control diagenesis at the macroscopic scale, while hydrocarbon charging affects the degree of cementation and dissolution. As oil saturation increases, the percentage of calcareous cements decreases and the development of secondary dissolved pores improves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Upper Triassic Xujiahe (须家河) Formation in the Sichuan (四川) Basin, Southwest China is distinctive for the basin-scale sand deposition. This relatively rare sedimentary phenomenon has not been well interpreted. Here we addressed this issue by discussing sedimentary framework and conceptual model. Analysis of sedimentary setting implied that the basin received transgression during the deposition. It had multiple provenance supplies and river networks, as being surrounded by oldlands in multiple directions including the north, east and south. Thus, the basin was generally characterized by coastal and widely open and shallow lacustrine deposition during the Late Triassic Xujiahe period. This is similar to the modern well-known Poyang (鄱阳) Lake. Therefore, we investigated the framework and conceptual model of the Sichuan Basin during the Xujiahe period with an analogue to the Poyang Lake. Results show that the conceptual model of the deposition can be divided into transgressive and regressive stages. The first, third and fifth members of the formation are in transgressive stage and the deposits are dominated by shore and shallow lacustrine mud. In contrast, the deposition is mainly of braided river channel sand deposits during the regressive stage, mainly including the second, fourth and sixth members of the formation. The sand deposited in almost the entire basin because of the lateral migration and forward moving of the cross networks of the braided rivers. The multiple alternations of short and rapid transgression and relatively long regression are beneficial to the basin-scale sand deposition. Thus, the main channel of the braided river and its extensional areas are favorable for the development of hydrocarbon reservoir. This provides practical significance to the reservoir evaluation and exploration. In addition, the results also justify the relatively distinctive sedimentary phenomenon in the study area and may also have implications for understanding the large-scale sand deposition elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]