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Background Clinically, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT)-associated muscle atrophy still lacks effective treatment. Deletion and mutation of L-periaxin can be involved in CMT type 4F (CMT4F) by destroying the myelin sheath form, which may be related to the inhibitory role of Ezrin in the self-association of L-periaxin. However, it is still unknown whether L-periaxin and Ezrin are independently or interactively involved in the process of muscle atrophy by affecting the function of muscle satellite cells. Method A gastrocnemius muscle atrophy model was prepared to mimic CMT4F and its associated muscle atrophy by mechanical clamping of the peroneal nerve. Differentiating C2C12 myoblast cells were treated with adenovirus-mediated overexpression or knockdown of Ezrin. Then, overexpression of L-periaxin and NFATc1/c2 or knockdown of L-periaxin and NFATc3/c4 mediated by adenovirus vectors were used to confirm their role in Ezrin-mediated myoblast differentiation, myotube formation and gastrocnemius muscle repair in a peroneal nerve injury model. RNA-seq, real-time PCR, immunofluorescence staining and Western blot were used in the above observation. Results For the first time, instantaneous L-periaxin expression was highest on the 6th day, while Ezrin expression peaked on the 4th day during myoblast differentiation/fusion in vitro. In vivo transduction of adenovirus vectors carrying Ezrin, but not Periaxin, into the gastrocnemius muscle in a peroneal nerve injury model increased the numbers of muscle myosin heavy chain (MyHC) I and II type myofibers, reducing muscle atrophy and fibrosis. Local muscle injection of overexpressed Ezrin combined with incubation of knockdown L-periaxin within the injured peroneal nerve or injection of knockdown L-periaxin into peroneal nerve-injured gastrocnemius muscle not only increased the number of muscle fibers but also recovered their size to a relatively normal level in vivo. Overexpression of Ezrin promoted myoblast differentiation/fusion, inducing increased MyHC-I+ and MyHC-II + muscle fiber specialization, and the specific effects could be enhanced by the addition of adenovirus vectors for knockdown of L-periaxin by shRNA. Overexpression of L-periaxin did not alter the inhibitory effects on myoblast differentiation and fusion mediated by knockdown of Ezrin by shRNA in vitro but decreased myotube length and size. Mechanistically, overexpressing Ezrin did not alter protein kinase A gamma catalytic subunit (PKA-γ cat), protein kinase A I alpha regulatory subunit (PKA reg Iα) or PKA reg Iβ levels but increased PKA-α cat and PKA reg II α levels, leading to a decreased ratio of PKA reg I/II. The PKA inhibitor H-89 remarkably abolished the effects of overexpressing-Ezrin on increased myoblast differentiation/fusion. In contrast, knockdown of Ezrin by shRNA significantly delayed myoblast differentiation/fusion accompanied by an increased PKA reg I/II ratio, and the inhibitory effects could be eliminated by the PKA reg activator N6-Bz-cAMP. Meanwhile, overexpressing Ezrin enhanced type I muscle fiber specialization, accompanied by an increase in NFATc2/c3 levels and a decrease in NFATc1 levels. Furthermore, overexpressing NFATc2 or knocking down NFATc3 reversed the inhibitory effects of Ezrin knockdown on myoblast differentiation/fusion. Conclusions The spatiotemporal pattern of Ezrin/Periaxin expression was involved in the control of myoblast differentiation/fusion, myotube length and size, and myofiber specialization, which was related to the activated PKA-NFAT-MEF2C signaling pathway, providing a novel L-Periaxin/Ezrin joint strategy for the treatment of muscle atrophy induced by nerve injury, especially in CMT4F.

There is no consensus on whether triplet regimen is better than doublet regimen in the first-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer (AGC). We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of oxaliplatin plus capecitabine (XELOX) and epirubicin, oxaliplatin, plus capecitabine (EOX) regimens in treating AGC.This phase III trial enrolled previously untreated patients with AGC who were randomly assigned to receive the XELOX or EOX regimen. The primary endpoint was non-inferiority in progression-free survival (PFS) for XELOX as compared with EOX on an intention-to-treat basis.Between April 10, 2015 and August 20, 2020, 448 AGC patients were randomized to receive XELOX (n = 222) or EOX (n = 226). The median PFS (mPFS) was 5.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.5-6.0 months) in the XELOX arm and 5.5 months (95% CI = 5.0-6.0 months) in the EOX arm (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.989, 95% CI = 0.812-1.203; PThis non-inferiority trial demonstrated that the doublet regimen was as effective as the triplet regimen and had a better safety profile and QoL as a first-line treatment for AGC patients. However, the triplet regimen might have a survival advantage in patients with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and liver metastasis.

Background Clinically, muscular dystrophy (MD), especially in Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT)-associated MD, still lacks effective treatment. Deletion and mutation of L-periaxin can be involved in CMT4F by destroying the myelin sheath form, which may be related to the inhibitory role of ezrin in the self-association of L-periaxin. However, it is still unknown whether L-periaxin and Ezrin are independently or interactively involved in the process of MD by affecting the function of muscle satellite cells. Method A gastrocnemius muscle (GA) atrophy model was prepared to mimic CMT4F and its associated muscle atrophy by mechanical clamping of the peroneal nerve. Differentiating C2C12 myoblast cells treated with Ad-ezrin or Ad-shezrin were detected by RNA-seq, Q-PCR, immunofluorescence staining and Western blotting. Ad-periaxin, Ad-shperiaxin, Ad-NFATc1/c2 or Ad-shNFATc3/c4 were used to confirm their role in ezrin-mediated myoblast differentiation, myotube formation and GA repair in a peroneal nerve injury model. Results For the first time, instantaneous L-periaxin expression was highest on the 6th day, while Ezrin expression peaked on the 4th day during myoblast differentiation/fusion in vitro. In vivo transduction of Ad-ezrin, but not Ad-ezrin, into the gastrocnemius muscle (GA) in a peroneal nerve injury model increased the numbers of MyHC-I+ and MyHC-II+ myofibers, reducing muscle atrophy and fibrosis. Local muscle injection of Ad-ezrin combined with incubation of Ad-shperiaxin within the injured peroneal nerve or injection of Ad-shperiaxin into PNI-injured GA not only increased the number of muscle fibers but also recovered its size to a relatively normal level in vivo. Overexpression of Ezrin promoted myoblast differentiation/fusion, inducing increased MyHC-I+ and MyHC-II + muscle fiber specialization, and the specific effects could be enhanced by the addition of Ad-shPeriaxin. Overexpression of L-periaxin did not alter the inhibitory effects on myoblast differentiation and fusion mediated by Ad-shEzrin in vitro but decreased myotube length and size. Mechanistically, Ad-Ezrin did not alter PKA-γ cat, PKA reg Iα and Iβ levels, but increase PKA-α cat and PKA reg II α levels, leading to the decreased ratio of PKA reg I/II. The PKA inhibitor H-89 remarkably abolished the overexpression effects of Ezrin on increased myoblast differentiation/fusion. In contrast, knockdown of Ezrin by shRNA significantly delayed myoblast differentiation/fusion accompanied by a increased PKA reg I/II ratio, and the inhibitory effects could be eliminated by the PKA reg activator N6-Bz-cAMP. Meanwhile, Ad-ezrin enhanced type I muscle fiber specialization, accompanied by increase in NFATc2/c3 levels and decrease in NFATc1. Furthermore, Ad-NFATc2 or Ad-shNFATc3 reversed the inhibitory effects of Ad-shEzrin on myoblast differentiation/fusion. Conclusions The spatiotemporal pattern of Ezrin/Periaxin expression was involved in the control of myoblast differentiation/fusion, myotube length and size, and myofiber specialization, which was related to the activated PKA-NFAT-MEF2C signaling pathway, providing a novel L-Periaxin/ezrin joint strategy for the treatment of MD induced by nerve injury, especially in CMT4F.

With the advantages of short duration and extreme brightness, laser proton accelerators (LPAs) show great potential in many fields for industrial, medical, and research applications. However, the quality of current laser-driven proton beams, such as the broad energy spread and large divergence angle, is still a challenge. We use numerical simulations to study the propagation of such proton bunches in the plasma. Results show the bunch will excite the wakefield and modulate itself. Although a small number of particles at the head of the bunch cannot be manipulated by the wakefield, the total energy spread is reduced. Moreover, while reducing the longitudinal energy spread, the wakefield will also pinch the beam in the transverse direction. The space charge effect of the bunch is completely offset by the wakefield, and the transverse momentum of the bunch decreases as the bunch transports in the plasma. For laser-driven ion beams, our study provides a novel idea about the optimization of these beams.

For the guarantee of the long-distance transport of the bunches of China Initiative Accelerator Driven System (CIADS), a new scheme is proposed that extra magnetic field is used in the accelerator-target coupling section before the windowless target to minimize the self-modulation (SM) mechanism. Particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to study the influence of the solenoidal magnetic field on the self-modulation mechanism when long proton bunches move in the background plasmas. The long proton bunches used in the simulations are similar to these in the linear accelerator of CIADS. It is found that the presence of the solenoidal magnetic field will significantly inhibit the self-modulation process. For the strong magnetic field, the longitudinal separation and transverse focusing of the long bunches disappear. We attribute these phenomena to the reason that the strong solenoidal magnetic field restricts the transverse movement of plasma electrons. Thus, there are not enough electrons around the bunch to compensate the space charge effect. Moreover, without transverse current, the longitudinal pinched effect disappears, and the long bunch can not be separated into small pulses anymore.

AIM To investigate the characteristics and clinical value of chest computed tomography (CT) images of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP). MATERIALS AND METHODS Clinical data and CT images of 80 cases of NCP were collected. The clinical manifestations and laboratory test results of the patients were analysed. The lesions in each lung segment of the patient's chest CT images were characterised. Lesions were scored according to length and diffusivity. RESULTS The main clinical manifestations were fever, dry cough, fatigue, a little white sputum, or diarrhoea. A total of 1,702 scored lesions were found in the first chest CT images of 80 patients. The lesions were located mainly in the subpleural area of the lungs (92.4%). Most of the lesions were ground-glass opacity, and subsequent fusions could increase in range and spread mainly in the subpleural area. Pulmonary consolidation accounted for 44.1% of all of the lesions. Of the 80 cases, 76 patients (95%) had bilateral lung disease, four (5%) patients had unilateral lung disease, and eight (10%) patients had cord shadow. CONCLUSION The chest CT of NCP patients is characterised by the onset of bilateral ground-glass lesions located in the subpleural area of the lung, and progressive lesions that result in consolidation with no migratory lesions. Pleural effusions and mediastinal lymphadenopathy are rare. As patients can have inflammatory changes in the lungs alongside a negative early nucleic acid test, chest CT, in combination with epidemiological and laboratory tests, is a useful examination to evaluate the disease and curative effect., Highlights • NCP is characterized by GGO and consolidation in the subpleural area. • Pleural effusions and mediastinal lymphadenopathy are rare in COVID-19 patients. • CT shows abnormal in some patients with negative nucleic acid or laboratory tests.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect the motion-correction reconstruction algorithm SnapShot Freeze (SSF) on the diagnostic performance of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) using high-resolution, wide-detector CT. Methods: CCTA was performed using an electrocardiography-triggered auto-gating protocol in 62 patients. All images were reconstructed using both standard algorithm and motioncorrection algorithm (SSF). According to the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for coronary angiography, the coronary artery was divided into 15 segments. The coronary artery segments were evaluated using a 4-point Likert scale to determine the image quality. Arteries with a score greater than 1 were further evaluated by two expert radiologists blinded to conditions. The diagnostic performance of SSF was compared in the patients with high heart rate (HR ≥ 75 beats per minute) compared to low HR (< 75 beats per minute). Results: At the segmental level, the Likert score for segments 1–4 and 6–14 were higher in SSF compared to standard algorithm (p < 0.05). The proportion of images that was improved by SSF was greater for the high HR systolic phase imaging (66.7%) than for the low HR diastolic phase imaging (34.3%, p < 0.05). Conclusion: The SSF algorithm improves coronary CTA images acquired using a 256-row wide detector CT, compared to standard algorithm, particularly in patients with high HR.

Background: Muscular dystrophy is a destructive neuromuscular disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness and muscle atrophy. The role of Ezrin in myoblast differentiation/fusion and muscle atrophy is still unknown.Method: Gastrocnemius muscle atrophy model were prepared by mechanical clamp of peroneal nerve. Differentiating C2C12 cells treated with Ad-Ezrin or Ad-shEzrin were detected by gene chip, Q-PCR, immunofluorescence staining and Western blot.Results: Ezrin was expressed in MyHC I/II myofibers in vivo, and time-dependently increased during myoblast differentiation/fusion characterized by MyoG+/MEF2c nuclei and MyHC+ myotubes in vitro. Overexpression of Ezrin promoted myoblast differentiation/fusion in time-dependent manner, inducing the increased MyHC-I+ and MyHC-II+ muscle fiber specialization, the specific effects could be abolished by addition of Ad-Periaxin. Ad-Ezrin did not alter PKA and PKAreg II α levels, but PKAreg I α/β. The PKA inhibitor, H-89, remarkably abolished the over-expression effects by Ezrin on an increased myoblast differentiation/fusion. By contrast, Knockdown of Ezrin by shRNA significantly delayed myoblast differentiation/fusion accompanied by the decreased PKA reg I/II ratio, the inhibitory effects could be eliminated by PKAreg I activator N6-Bz-cAMP. Meanwhile, Ad-Ezrin enhanced type I muscle fiber specialization, accompanied by the increased levels of NFATc1/c2.Furthermore, Ad-NFATc2 or Ad-NFATc4 reversed the inhibitory effects of Ad-shEzrin on myoblast differentiation/fusion. Importantly, in vivo transfection of Ad-Ezrin into gastrocnemius muscles in peroneal nerve injury model increased the numbers of MyHC-I+ and MyHC-II+ myofibers, reducing muscle atrophy and fibrosis.Conclusions: Ezrin activated PKA-NFAT-MyoD/MyoG/MEF2C signaling pathway, triggering myoblast differentiation/fusion and muscle fiber specialization in periaxin-depentdent manner, contributing to gastrocnemius muscles repair.

To investigate the optimal pre- and post-adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction-V (ASiR-V) levels in pediatric abdominal computed tomography (CT) to minimize radiation exposure and maintain image quality using an animal model. A total of 10 standard piglets were selected and scanned to obtain unenhanced and enhanced images under different pre-ASiR-V conditions. The corresponding images were obtained using ASiR-V algorithm at different post-ASiR-V levels. CT value, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast noise ratio (CNR) of abdominal tissues, subjective image score, and radiation dose of unenhanced and enhanced scans were analyzed. With the increase of pre-ASiR-V level, the radiation dose in piglets gradually decreased (P < 0.05). Within the same group of pre-ASiR-V, the image noise was decreased (P < 0.05) by increasing post-ASiR-V level. There was no statistical difference between SNR and CNR values. In unenhanced CT, the subjective score of the images with the combination of 40% pre- and 60% post-ASiR-V levels had no statistical difference compared to the combination of 0% pre- and 60% post-ASiR-V levels, while the radiation dose decreased by 31.6%. In the enhanced CT, the subjective image score with the 60% pre- and 60% post-ASiR-V combination had no statistical difference compared to the 0% pre- and 60% post-ASiR-V combination, while the radiation dose was reduced by 48.9%. The combined use of pre- and post-ASiR-V maintains image quality at the reduced radiation dose. The optimal level for unenhanced CT is 40% pre-combined with 60% post-ASiR-V, while that for enhanced CT is 60% pre- combined with 60% post-ASiR-V in pediatric abdominal CT.

PurposeTo characterize clinical features and identify baseline prognostic factors for survival in young adults with advanced gastric cancer (YAAGC).Materials and MethodsA total of 220 young inpatients (age less than or equal to 40 years) with an initial diagnosis of advanced gastric cancer were retrospectively enrolled in this study.ResultsOf a consecutive cohort of 220 patients with YAAGC, the median overall survival (OS) time was 16.3 months. One-year survival rate was 43.6% (95% CI: 36.5 to 50.7). In this cohort, a female (71.4%, n = 157) predominance and a number of patients with poorly differentiated tumors (95.9%, n = 211) were observed. In the univariate analysis, OS was significantly associated with neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (≥3.12), hypoproteinemia (p = 0.015] and high NLR level (HR 1.446, 95% CI 1.022 to 2.047, p = 0.021) were two independent poor prognostic factors, while previous radical gastrectomy was associated with a favorable OS (HR 0.345, 95% CI 0.205 to 0.583, p = 0.000). A three-tier prognostic index was constructed dividing patients into good-, intermediate-, or poor-risk groups. Median OS for good-, intermediate-, and poor-risk groups was 36.43, 17.87, and 11.27 months, respectively.ConclusionsThree prognostic factors were identified, and a three-tier prognostic index was devised. The reported prognostic index may aid clinical decision-making, patient risk stratification, and planning of future clinical studies on YAAGC.

Background Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II) or Hunter syndrome is a rare X-linked recessive genetic disease resulting from deficient activity of the iduronate-2-sulfatase(IDS) enzyme and the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans in almost all cells, tissues and organs, which makes viscera function impaired. This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics, leukocyte IDS activity and mutations in the IDS gene of 30 Chinese children with MPS II. Methods: Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed on samples of the 30 patients. Results: A total of 25 mutations were identified in the IDS genes including 16 previously reported and 9 novel mutations (6 frameshift: c.815-818dupAACG, c.1453dupA, c.1270-1271delGT, c.1484-1485insTA, c.854delA, c.12_13delCC; 3missense: c.325 T > G, c.140 T > C, c.248 T > G). The computer simulations of the protein structure analysis of the novel missense mutations showed these amino acid replacements (W109G tryptophan replaced by the glycine, L47P leucine replaced by the proline, V83G valine replaced by glycine) near the active site of IDS protein sulfatase domain and would cause a severe impairment of protein structure and function. Conclusions: Our study expands the spectrum of MPS II genotype, provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms of MPS II, and contributes to future studies of genotype-phenotypic associations to estimate prognosis and develop new treatment regimens.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the feasibility of achieving diagnostic images in low-dose abdominal CT using a Deep Learning Image Reconstruction (DLIR) algorithm. METHODS: Prospectively enrolled 47 patients requiring contrast-enhanced abdominal CT scans. The late-arterial phase scan was added and acquired using lower-dose mode (tube current range, 175–545 mA; 80 kVp for patients with BMI ≤24 kg/m2 and 100 kVp for patients with BMI > 24 kg/m2) and reconstructed with DLIR at medium setting (DLIR-M) and high setting (DLIR-H), ASIR-V at 0% (FBP), 40% and 80% strength. Both the quantitative measurement and qualitative analysis of the five types of reconstruction methods were compared. In addition, radiation dose and image quality between the early-arterial phase ASIR-V images using standard-dose and the late-arterial phase DLIR images using low-dose were compared. RESULTS: For the late-arterial phase, all five reconstructions had similar CT value (P > 0.05). DLIR-H, DLIR-M and ASIR-V80% images significantly reduced the image noise and improved the image contrast noise ratio, compared with the standard ASIR-V40% images (P

Urea cycle disorders (UCDs) are a group of rare metabolic conditions characterized by hyperammonemia and a broad spectrum of phenotypic severity. They are caused by the congenital deficiency in the eight biomolecules involved in urea cycle. In the present study, five cases of UCD were recruited and submitted to a series of clinical, biochemical, and genetic analysis with a combination of high throughput techniques. Moreover, in silico analysis was conducted on the identified missense genetic variants. Various clinical and biochemical indications (including profiles of amino acids and urinary orotic acids) of UCD were manifested by the five probands. Sequence analysis revealed nine diagnostic variants, including three novel ones, which caused Argininosuccinic aciduria (ASA) in one case, Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1deficiency (CPS1D) in two cases, Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) in one case, and Citrin deficiency in 1case. Results of in silico biophysical analysis strongly suggested the pathogenicity of each the five missense variants and provided insight into their intramolecular impacts. In conclusion, this study expanded the genetic variation spectrum of UCD, gave solid evidence for counselling to the affected families, and should facilitate the functional study on the proteins in urea cycle.

Bird strike accidents mainly occur in the airport area. Reducing bird activities through bird repeller equipment is one of the main measures to prevent bird strike. In this study, two bird species with high-risk, pigeon (鸟击事故主要发生在机场区域,通过使用驱鸟设备减少机场鸟类活动是预防鸟击的主要措施之一。本研究以家鸽和红隼两种高危险鸟类作为受试对象,选择沈阳桃仙国际机场使用的煤气炮和定向声波驱鸟器,观察在设备正常运行期间鸟类位于不同距离上的行为反应,探究两种驱鸟设备的有效作用距离以及效果。结果表明: 家鸽和红隼在距离煤气炮驱鸟器10、30 m时的警戒、逃跑行为显著高于对照,而在50 m处的各种行为次数与对照没有显著差别。家鸽和红隼在距离定向声波驱鸟器50、100 m时能够显著引起警戒和逃跑行为,在300 m处仍能显著引起红隼的警戒行为。可见,煤气炮的有效驱鸟距离为30 m,定向声波的有效驱鸟距离可达300 m,即定向声波的驱鸟效果要强于煤气炮。本研究可为机场引进驱鸟设备以及合理使用提供依据。.

Several advances in nanomedicine have been accompanied by rising concerns about the bioaccumulation and toxicity of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Here, we assessed the in vivo fate of diversely sized AuNPs that were injected into mice as a computed tomography contrast agent and examined with multi-scale analyses across the organ, tissue, cell, and subcellular levels. After focusing on the strong detected accumulation in livers, our data revealed a set of three clear, exposure-time-dependent patterns based on i) AuNPs deposit morphology and ii) readily identifiable phenotypes for AuNP-impacted subcellular vesicles. Importantly, we detected no obvious differences in liver function, liver cell apoptosis, or autophagy upon exposure to AuNPs. Thus, our study illustrates an accessible experimental and high-resolution data interpretation framework for quickly obtaining and contextualizing informative trends about any AuNP-triggered patterns of subcellular damage in nanomedicine studies; these can help guide cytotoxity and safety testing of diagnostic nanomedical technologies.

Background: Lymphoid neoplasms in serous effusions (SEs) were uncommon. Currently, most reports of lymphoid neoplasms in SEs were from Western countries, but few reports were from China, and the details were still unclear. Methods: Between January 2004 and December 2019, lymphoid neoplasms diagnosed by cytological methods from specimens of pleural effusions (PEs), ascites, and pericardial effusions in our hospital were reviewed.Results: 59 patients of lymphoid neoplasms were diagnosed by SEs, the top three causes were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (n=21, 35.6%), myeloma (n=13, 22.0%), and T-lymphoblastic lymphoma (n=5, 8.5%). In PEs involved with DLBCL, the cytomorphology of DLBCL cells was variable, most PEs were present during tumor course (92.9%), bilateral PEs were the predominance (57.2%), and the median survival time was only 1.23 months after effusion. In PEs involved with myeloma, nearly all cases had a high ratio of immature to mature plasma cells (>1.0), IgA (36.4%) and light chain λ (36.4%) were the most frequently found. Bilateral PEs were easily found (90.9%), and the median survival time was only 1.4 months after effusion. Solitary plasmacytomas with myeloma infiltration in PEs seemed to have a better prognosis than that of plasma cell myeloma.Conclusion: Some differences are found between our patients and those from Western countries, and more studies involving different ethnic populations could help to elucidate the features of lymphoid neoplasms in SEs.

In this paper, a novel form of optical soliton solution for the integrable three-component coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equation on the vanishing background is investigated. Using algebraic iteration and generalized Darboux transformation, optical soliton solutions of single- to four-solitons are constructed. On the basis of above solutions, new elastic and inelastic collisions of nonlinear wave are displayed, especially interactions of four-solitons. It is shown that free parameters play a crucial role in dynamical properties of solitons. With the change of free parameters, some novel three-dimensional diagrams of interactions for three- and four-solitons are illustrated by using numerical simulation, respectively. In addition, new bound states of four-solitons are also studied for the first time.

The superconducting linac for China initiative Accelerator Driven Subcritical System (CiADS) is the world-leading ADS-driver under construction with state-of-the-art technologies. This system is designed to accelerate a 5 mA proton beam to 500 MeV energy, and then delivering 2.5 MW of beam power to the neutron production target. The Middle Energy Beam Transport (MEBT) is designed with great emphasis on smoothing matching between the upstream and downstream acceleration sections, beam diagnostics layout and beam quality control. It is proposed and successfully implemented to immigrate the phase space distortion and reduce the increase of beam emittance. The acceptance of MEBT is optimized to make all the particles inside the effective acceptance of the superconducting section even with machine errors. This pertinent design of MEBT is suitable for the high-power superconducting accelerator of CiADS.

Reducing energy consumption and increasing ethylene recovery rate can effectively optimize the operation of ethylene columns. This paper discusses the trade-off between energy consumption and recovery rate in different scenes. For normal condition, the influences of energy consumption and recovery rate on economic benefits are represented as energy consumption of separation and energy consumption of circulation, while the unseparated ethylene is recycled by the bottom circulatory system. The operation optimization, whose objective is economic benefits, is achieved at the lowest total energy consumption, the sum of energy consumption of separation and circulation. For abnormal condition caused by furnace decoking, the objectives of operation optimization are economic benefits and operability. Operability, affected with remarkable production fluctuation, is quantified by variation of gas and liquid loads. Moreover, the Pareto curve of the multiobjective optimization problem was obtained with total energy consumption and variation of gas/liquid loads as objectives, and the inflection point achieves the equilibrium of economic benefits and operability. Therefore, the balance of recovery rate and energy consumption is crucial to improve economic benefits. Furthermore, moderately operating recovery rate and energy consumption is suitable to maximize economic benefits and operability simultaneously for production fluctuation. © 2017 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

By using particle-in-cell(PIC) simulation method, the proton beam confinement in a magnetic mirror is investigated in the present paper. We define two physical quantities to describe the confinement effects of mirror for proton beam. One is loss rate χ=Nlost/N0, where Nlost is the number of leaked particles from the mirror and N0 is the number of initial particles. The other is confinement time τm. Dependences of loss rate and confinement time on the parameters of both magnetic mirror and proton beam is given. It is found that the larger the mirror ratio, the less the loss rate, and the longer the confinement time. The appropriate proton beam velocity and other parameters of the protons can significantly improve the confinement time of the mirror and the efficiency of confinement.

A two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is carried out to study the focusing effects of the long proton beam propagating in background plasmas. It is found that the smooth beam, with the long length and the small density gradient profile, is focused to high density. The sharp beam, with long length and the large density gradient profile, is modulated into many high density and periodic short beam pulses due to the wakefield induced by the beam. In addition, increasing the plasma density and adopting the non-uniform plasmas are the effective ways to reduce the wakefield.

At atmospheric pressure and over a full molar fraction range, for a binary mixture of x N -methylimidazole + (1- x ) methanol, the density, viscosity and refractive index at 308.15 K were measured, and the Gibbs energy of activation of viscous flow was calculated. All these properties were, respectively, correlated by a fourth-order polynomial. Based on these properties, the excess molar volume, viscosity deviation and refractive index deviation, and the excess Gibbs energy of activation of viscous flow, were calculated and fitted to a third-order Redlich–Kister polynomial, respectively. The total vapor pressure in the range (303.15–363.15) K was measured and correlated by a cubic equation, as well as the Clausius–Clapeyron equation. The molar enthalpy of vaporization was extrapolated from the Clausius–Clapeyron equation. The compositions of vapor–liquid coexisting phases were measured, and a temperature-composition phase diagram was plotted. A strong attractive molecular interaction between N -methylimidazole and methanol in a liquid mixture is discussed.

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) macromolecular brushes were synthesized directly via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization cyclopolymerization of diacrylate monomers bearing PEG functional groups through the formation of 11-member rings. The diacrylate monomers bearing PEG functional groups are the 1,2,3-triazole-tethered diacrylate macromolecular monomers with di erent PEG lengths synthesized via the so-called “click” chemistry. The bulky hindrance of PEG chains affected the polymerization behavior of the diacrylate macromolecular monomers, and the diacrylate monomers showed strong tendency to cyclopolymerization rather than crosslinking. NMR analysis and gel permeation chromatography profiles proved the high efficiency of cyclopolymerization without side reactions. The aqueous solutions of the obtained PEG macromolecular brushes were fluorescent under UV excitation. The fluorescence depended dramatically on the concentration of brush-like polymers due to the aggregation of cyclopolymer in water, and could be quenched by the addition of DNA.

1-D particle-in-cell simulations are used to investigate the propagation and decomposition of the ion acoustic solitary waves (IASWs) in plasmas. Our results show that for small-amplitude conditions, IASWs are stable and the simulation results are consistent with the theoretical predictions of the reductive perturbation method. As the amplitudes of IASWs increase, the waves become unstable and trains of oscillating waves are emitted behind the main waves. When the amplitude is large enough, the wave cannot exist and will decay into a series of waves with a small amplitude. By comparing our simulations with the theoretical solutions of Kortewag–de Vries soliton, the upper limitation of the amplitude of IASWs in plasmas is found. Moreover, our results show that although the reductive perturbation method is valid only for small perturbations, the application scope of the reductive perturbation method can be expanded to describe the potential profiles of IASWs with any amplitude. Meanwhile, the application scope for the density profiles is still limited in the perturbation cases.

Background: To investigate the roles of microembolus and plasma D-dimer in evaluating the warfarin anticoagulant therapy efficacies for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: Fifty-six AF patients were treated with aspirin antiplatelet therapy (Group ASP) and forty AF patients were treated with warfarin anticoagulant therapy (Group WAR). The microemboli and plasma D-dimer in these two groups were monitored and compared before and after treatment. Results: Group ASP had 21 and 17 cases with positive microemboli before and after treatment, respectively, and there was no significant difference in the detection rate of microemboli before and after treatment; Group WAR had 14 and 5 cases with positive microemboli before and after treatment, respectively, and the detection rate of microemboli was significantly reduced after treatment. The levels of plasma D-dimer in the two groups were significantly reduced after treatment (327±73 µg/L vs 235±61 µg/L and 313±81 µg/L vs 170±67 µg/L, respectively, P

Chidamide, a novel histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, induces antitumor effects in various types of cancer. The present study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of chidamide on multiple myeloma and the underlying mechanisms involved. Viability of multiple myeloma cells upon chidamide treatment was determined by the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Apoptosis induction and cell cycle alteration were detected by flow cytometry. Specific apoptosis-associated proteins and cell cycle proteins were evaluated by western blot analysis. Chidamide suppressed cell viability in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Chidamide treatment markedly suppressed the expression of type I HDACs and further induced the acetylation of histones H3 and H4. In addition, it promoted G0/G1 arrest by decreasing cyclin D1 and c-myc expression, and increasing phosphorylated-cellular tumor antigen p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1 (p21) expression in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with chidamide induced cell apoptosis by upregulating the apoptosis regulator Bax/B-cell lymphoma 2 ratio in a caspase-dependent manner. In addition, the combination of chidamide with bortezomib, a proteasome inhibitor widely used as a therapeutic agent for multiple myeloma, resulted in enhanced inhibition of cell viability. In conclusion, chidamide induces a marked antimyeloma effect by inducing G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis via a caspase-dependent pathway. The present study provides evidence for the clinical application of chidamide in multiple myeloma.

A two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is carried out to study the wakefield and stopping power for a hydrogen ion beam pulse with low drift velocity propagation in hydrogen plasmas. The plasma is assumed to be collisionless, uniform, non-magnetized, and in a steady state. Both the pulse ions and plasma particles are treated by the PIC method. The effects of the beam density on the wakefield and stopping power are then obtained and discussed. It is found that as the beam densities increase, the oscillation wakefield induced by the beam become stronger. Besides, the first oscillation wakefield behind the bunch is particularly stronger than others. Moreover, it is found that the stationary stopping power increases linearly with the increase of the beam density in the linear/semilinear region.

Qin-lan Chen,1 Xiao-ying Zhao,2 Xiao-mi Wang,1 Na Lv,2 Ling-ling Zhu,3 Hui-min Xu,4 Quan Zhou4 1Radiology Nursing Unit, Division of Nursing, 2Department of Quality Management, 3Geriatric VIP Care Ward, Division of Nursing, 4Department of Pharmacy, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The authors retrospectively analyzed the pattern and characteristics of non-laboratory-based adverse drug reactions (ADRs) induced by intravenous radiocontrast agents in a large-scale hospital in China during 2014–2015. There were 314 ADR cases among 118,208 patients receiving enhanced CT or MRI examinations. The frequency of moderate/severe ADRs defined by Chinese Society of Radiology (ie, severe vomiting, systematic urticaria, facial swelling, dyspnea, vasovagal reaction, laryngeal edema, seizure, trembling, convulsions, unconsciousness, shock, death, and other unexpected adverse reactions) was rare (0.0431%), whereas the mild ADRs were uncommon (0.2225%) and accounted for 83.76% of ADRs. Frequency of ADRs induced by iodinated contrast agents was related with examination site, sex, and type of patient settings (P

The structure and working principle on Spinner institutions of iron roughneck are introduced. The stress analysis on Spinner institutions is done according to the theory of mechanics and the load formula of the hydraulic cylinder is obtained. Spinner model is set up using professional three-dimensional design software: Inventor, and imported into the ADAMS for simulation analysis, the clamping force curve of spinner institutions and stress value of the key components are obtained. The article verified the correctness of the system and provided theoretical basis for the parameter setting of the system practical action and control.

In this paper, a numerical simulation method based on fractal theory is presented to simulate lightning attachment points on airplane. The dielectric breakdown model is used to simulate the fractal growth of the lightning leaders, which meets physical mechanisms and geometric characteristics of nature lightning. The process of the airplane struck by lightning is simulated according to the relevant provisions about aircraft lightning attachment points test in standard SAE-ARP5416. The distribution of aircraft lightning attachment points are obtained through substantial repeated simulation. Because the probability distribution of lightning attachment obtained through the simulating is almost in line with those obtained through actual aircraft flight test, the validity of the proposed method is verified.

In this paper, the vibration suppression mechanism of a nonlinear fluid pipe via nonlinear energy sink (NES) is studied for the first time. The fluid pipe is simply supported under harmonic foundation excitation. The complexification-averaging method combined with the arc-length continuation method is used to predict the response of the system. The analytical solution is supported by the numerical result. The trend of interaction between liquid speed and NES parameters are investigated by comparison of parameters optimization. It is especially pointed out that the change of stiffness has a very complicated influence on the response. The parameters optimization is investigated at the resonance frequency. It is noted that the liquid speed has an important effect on the vibration suppression of the fluid pipe. Besides, the system is evaluated from the point of view of energy. The distribution of the input energy is calculated and the instantaneous transaction of the energy is examined by considering the energy transaction measure (ETM). The numerical simulations demonstrate that the target energy transfer (TET) leads to a very efficient vibration suppression.

The electro-hydraulic proportional control system of the rig rotary mechanism was designed, and the work principle and system structure were introduced. On the bases of analyzing the characteristics of PID control algorithm and Fuzzy control algorithm, the design and research were carried. Simulation experiments show that the Fuzzy - PID algorithm effectively improves the control performance of the control system, and has a good environmental adaptability.

The point-to-point swing arm test is very important for large arms which have swing arm movement. Traditional point-to-point swing arm controller is relay control mode. The mode has many shortcomings, such as big volume, high power consumption, low stability, and so on. An intelligent point-to-point swing arm controller, using MCU as the control core, was designed for this reason. It was mainly composed of switch signal detecting module, solenoid valve drive module, USB storage interface module and MCU control module. According to the requirements of test, the controller was able to detect the valid signal of limit switch and control commutation operation of solenoid valve, meanwhile it could record the movement time between one point and another point, the time the arm swayed and the moment information, and these above information would be stored in USB memory. It has some advantages of small size, low power consumption, high stability and flexible functions.

To investigate the effect of premature rupture of the membrane (PROM) on neonatal complications in premature infants.The registration information of 7684 preterm infants with gestational age37 weeks were collected from the cooperative units in the task group between January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014. Specially trained personnel from each cooperative units filled in the unified form in a standardized format to record the gender, gestational age, birth weight, PROM, placental abruption, antenatal corticosteroid, Apgar score, amniotic fluid pollution, and complications of the infants. The data were analyzed comparatively between the cases with PROM and those without (control).The preterm mortality rate was significantly lower but the incidences of ICH, NEC, ROP and BPD were significantly higher in PROM group than in the control group (P0.05). The 95% confidence interval of the OR value was1 for mortality, and was1 for ICH, NEC, ROP and BPD. After adjustment for gestational age, birth weight, gender, mode of delivery, placental abruption, placenta previa, prenatal hormones, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational period hypertension and 5-min Apgar score7, the incidences of NEC, ROP and BPD were significantly different between the two groups (P0.05) with 95% confidence interval of OR value1, but the mortality rate and incidence of ICH were not significantly different between the two groups (P0.05).PROM is a risk factor for NEC, ROP and BPD in preterm infants, and adequate intervention of PROM can reduce the incidences of such complications as NEC, ROP and BPD in the infants.

Rig is widely used in civil engineering. With the increasingly nervous energy supply, the problem of saving energy is caused close attention more and more. Hydraulic technology widely used in drilling equipment faces the same problem. The parameters of hydraulic system not only affect the rig’s work performance, but also impact on energy consumption and cost of the system. This paper introduced the energy saving principle and method of the rig’s hydraulic system. Taking the drilling rig’s rotary system as an example, the design pressure of hydraulic system was determined using mathematic analytic method- extreme method which is based on the energy saving principle. The method provides a reference for determining the hydraulic system’s pressure of rig.

Aimed at a new mining method of oil shale—Borehole Hydraulic Mining, the experiment platform for Borehole Hydraulic mining of oil shale is designed based on this, in order to evaluation of the effective damage to oil shale in different forms of jet, determine the economic and reasonable high-pressure jet parameters. The finite element analysis is conducted to the key components of the experimental platform. The Results Show that the parts design is reasonable and the experiment platform meets the requirements. The experimental platform provides the reliable equipment guarantee for the effective implementation of the hydraulic mining experiment.

Pipe automatic handing system is an important part of automation rig, which replace manual operation by using mechanical equipment, and realize the reciprocate transfer operation of drill pipe. It is an effective way to make drilling safe, healthy and efficient. This paper introduces the common structure, the function and the basic principle of the pipe automatic handing system used now, and the different structure are compared.

This paper presents the structure design, the working principle and the relevant calculation of the mechanical clamping claw of the land rigs automatic arranging drill pipe system. Applying the Generative Structural Analysis module of the CATIA, we can get the Von Mises stress image to show the stress distribution. The finite element analysis provides a simple effective method for the design of the structure of the mechanical clamping claw. Through this device the drill pipe can be transferred automatically and circularly from the rat hole to the pipe racking system and from pipe racking system to the mouth of the well.

This article makes the surface of airplane into quadrilateral gridding by using the method of discrete gridding generation, and calculates the data of gridding by using the classical Dijkstra algorithm (local algorithm) which can seek the shortest path from the start point and the end point. With that we can achieve diffraction ray tracing. This method can be used for any convex surface of the diffraction ray tracing.

This paper is concerned with the implementation of the parallel multilevel fast multipole algorithm(MLFMA) for large scale electromagnetics simulation on shared-memory system. The algorithm is implemented on a method of moment discretisation of the electromagnetics scattering problems.The developed procesure is validated by compared to benchmarks defined by Electromagnetics Code Consortium(EMCC) .The procesure can evaluate large problemssuch as electromagnetics scattering of aircraft at high-frequency with up to several millions of unknowns.

Aircraft is more light than usual because of using the material of carbon fiber, which can make aircraft lighter than metal materials. But the shielding effectiveness of carbon fiber is worse than metal materials. First, This paper explains the direct effect and the indirect effect which aircraft suffer of the lightning strike. And then this paper analysis and imitates the carbon fiber cabin struck by lightning. And then, at two circumstance of indirect effect, this paper gives the result of electric field, magnetic field and surface current. Finally, this paper gives some advice for defending outside the carbon fiber cabin and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) inside the carbon fiber cabin.

Pipe automatic operating system uses mechanical,hydraulic and control technology, replace manual operation by using mechanical equipment,it is an effective way to make drilling safe,healthy and efficient.In the paper,the general mechanical structure,and working principle of the column pipe automatic transferring system of land rig are introduced.The strength and stability analysis of column are presented.provided a way of strength and stability analysis.

The particle-in-cell simulations are performed to study the wake field as well as stopping power of two ion-beam pulses passing through a background plasma. The influence of plasma turbulence induced by the first pulse to the second pulse is discussed. When the density of the first pulse is much larger than the second one, the wake field in the plasma is dominated by the first pulse. In this case, the energy loss of the second pulse is completely determined by the distances between the two pulses. If the second pulse is located on the “negative area” of the wake field in plasmas, its energy loss will be greatly enhanced compared with the results of the individual-projectile. On the other side, the second pulse can be even accelerated when it is in the “positive area” of the wake field. The wake field induced by two identical pulses is also studied, and we find that the wake field can be enhanced due to the superimposed effect of the beam pulses. Otherwise, the wake field can be totally canceled out.

To analyze the clinical characteristics, results of treatment, and prognostic factors of patients diagnosed as primary ovarian non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (PONHL). Fourteen cases of PONHL treated in Fudan University Cancer Center during a 10-year period were retrospectively reviewed, and the clinical data of the patients were analyzed for correlation between KPS, clinical stage, tumor size, IPI, ovary involvement, treatment and prognosis. The median age was 45 years, and thirteen patients were diagnosed of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and one patient lymphoblastic lymphoma. Four patients were stage IE, three stage IIE, and seven stage IVE. The median tumor size was 8 cm (range, 4.0-15.0 cm). The median overall survival (OS) of the 14 patients was 23.0 months (range 11.5-71.2 months). Thirty-six percentage of patients with bilateral ovary involvement had a shorter survival time than those with unilateral ovary involvement (median OS: 19.0 vs. 37.2 months, P=0.014). The OS of Stage IVE was worse than stage IE and stage IIE (median OS: 18.75 vs. 37.5 months, P=0.047). Patients with IPI>2 had worse prognosis than those with IPI≤2 (median OS: 19.0 vs. 42.1 months, P=0.03). PONHL patient with larger tumor mass had worse prognosis (median OS: 19.1 vs. 37.2 months, P=0.019). R-CHOP regimens had a tendency to improve the OS but was not shown to be statistically significant (median OS: 22.4 vs. 37.2 months, P=0.436). The management of PONHL should be based on multi-modality treatment including surgery and chemotherapy. The significant prognostic factors of survival are tumor size, Ann Arbor staging, and IPI.