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The performance of space nuclear reactors and spacecraft is significantly influenced by the size and mass of shield, therefore shielding design and optimization are crucial for the development of space nuclear power systems. In this paper, shielding design and optimization process was proposed, and the effectiveness was verified through an optimized shielding design for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) reactor. Building upon the open lattice reactor concept of the JIMO project, the neutronic design of the JIMO reactor was supplemented. The shielding design and optimization for the reactor employed a layered combination of beryllium (Be), boron carbide (B4C), tungsten (W), and lithium hydride (LiH). Considering the radial distribution of radiation dose, the Monte Carlo method was utilized to compute the neutron flux and the photon dose at the payload. Additionally, the neutron dose at the leading edge of the LiH was taken into account. Given the computational cost associated with the Monte Carlo method, the stepwise optimization approach was proposed after the analysis of the coupled transport characteristics of neutrons and photons and the shielding design principles. The stepwise optimization and analysis revealed several key findings. Firstly, the multi-layer Be-B4C configuration, compared to the single-layer Be plus single-layer B4C arrangement, effectively reduces reflected neutrons, thereby diminishing the mass required for photon shielding material. This reduction results from a decrease in the secondary photons generated within the leading-edge structural materials. Secondly, due to the lower photon doses at the outer edge resulting from the strong penetration ability of photons, the mass of the photon shielding material can be reduced by decreasing the photon shielding radius. Thirdly, a shielding configuration with a Be to B4C thickness ratio of 7:3 demonstrates excellent shielding effectiveness while maintaining a relatively small mass. Finally, placing W at 30 cm from the shielding leading edge not only reduces the photon shielding radius but also decreases the generation of the secondary photons, leading to an optimal shielding mass. The optimized shielding demonstrates equivalent radiation attenuation capabilities to the JIMO shielding, encompassing the attenuation of neutron flux and photon dose at the payload and neutron absorption dose at the leading edge of LiH. Simultaneously, the shielding mass is reduced by 98.41 kg. This underscores the effectiveness of the shielding optimization process. The developed shield and the associated design process have the potential to serve as a valuable reference for future shielding design and optimization for space nuclear reactors.

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a chronic life-threatening disease caused by organized blood clots that narrow or block the pulmonary arteries, leading to redistributions of blood flow and remodeling of the pulmonary microvascular bed. This progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance and pulmonary arterial pressure eventually results in right heart failure or even death. Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is considered the preferred treatment for CTEPH. However, approximately 40% of patients are unable to undergo PEA surgery due to distal lesions or complications. Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) is an angiographically guided catheter intervention that uses appropriately sized balloons to dilate and open narrowed or occluded pulmonary vessels step by step. BPA holds great promise for offering a new treatment option for these patients. This article reviews the clinical efficacy and predictability of postoperative complications of BPA in treating CTEPH, as well as the advances in combined treatment of BPA with PEA or with riociguat, with the aim to provide reference for clinicians in selecting treatment options for CTEPH patients.

Prognosis in pulmonary hypertension is closely associated with right heart function. In the early stage of pulmonary hypertension, the right ventricle can maintain the normal blood flow of the pulmonary circulation by increasing its contractility. As the disease progresses, the right ventricular afterload rises persistently, the right ventricle is gradually decompensated, even right heart failure occurs. Right ventricular-pulmonary arterial coupling refers to a matching between right ventricular contractility and afterload. The impairment of this coupling may be an early marker of right ventricular dysfunction. This article reviews the research progress of its assessment and application in pulmonary hypertension.

Assistive technology is a subset of health technology. The resolution on improving access to assistive technology adopted by the 71st World Health Assembly illustrates that it is extremely important to integrate assistive technologies into healthcare system, which will help to achieve the sustainable development goal including universal health coverage. During this article, we introduce the history of the development of assistive technology, expounds that assistive technology plays an increasingly important role in health protection/care, rehabilitation treatment/training, functional compensation, environmental health and other health fields, And then we put forward suggestions on strengthening the understanding of assistive technology, improving relevant policies and systems, strengthening the construction of assistive technology service system, promoting R & D and production development, and building professional technical teams, so as to better achieve universal health coverage.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the contmaination status of pesticide residues in vegetables sold in Inner Mongolia， and provide experimental basis for vegetable production， supervision， standard revision and risk assessment.Methods480 vegetable samples were collected from 12 cities in Inner Mongolia during 2019-2020， and 9 kinds of pesticide， 13 kinds of fungicide and dithiocarbamates were tested according to the procedure in the National Food Safety Surveillance Manual. Judgments were made in line with National Food Safety standard - Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides in Food （GB 2763-2019）.ResultsIn 480 vegetables， the detection rates of 9 kinds of pesticide， 13 kinds of fungicide and dithiocarbamates were 11.04%（53/480）， 34.79%（167/480） and 27.71%（133/480）. The violation rates were 3.33%（16/480）， 1.46%（7/480） and 2.29%（11/480）. The vegetables which violated the standard were celery， scallion， pak choi and spinach. There were multiple fungicide residues in single vegetable.ConclusionPesticide residues and violation were detected in vegetables sold in Inner Mongolia and over standard， high toxic and virulent pesticides were detected. Effective supervision and inspection should be taken by related departments.

Oral anticoagulants can effectively reduce the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, patients with atrial fibrillation and chronic renal insufficiency have an increased risk in both stroke and bleeding, making anticoagulant therapy challenging. Compared with traditional anticoagulant warfarin, non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants are non-inferior to warfarin in efficacy and safety. They don't require routine monitoring of the international normalized ratio and have better patient compliance. However, all the non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants are partially metabolized through kidneys to a varying degree, and thus their administration in patients with atrial fibrillation and chronic renal insufficiency is controversial. This review summarizes the administration of oral anticoagulants in these patients to guide clinical practice.

Pulmonary thromboembolism(PTE)is the third most common cause of cardiovascular death. However, only about 20% to 30% of patients with high-risk PTE received systemic thrombolysis in real world, due to concerns about the risks such as major bleeding. Although systemic thrombolysis could decrease all-cause mortality of patients with intermediate-risk PTE, the risk of bleeding outweighs the benefits. Ultrasound-assisted catheter-directed thrombolysis (UA-CDT) could directly deliver thrombolytic drugs to the thrombus with lower doses needed. Meanwhile, ultrasound waves could also enhance thrombolysis. Therefore, UA-CDT is emerging as a new tool, with good efficacy and safety records, for the treatment of PTE. In the present review article, we introduce the mechanism, required device, common protocol, efficacy and safety of UA-CDT and discuss directions for future studies.

We propose a new type of wire rope based on radial multi-path uniform radiation magnetization of the online monitoring experimental teaching device. An array structure model of the uniform radiation excitation is established, the effect of the model’s uniform magnetization of the wire rope is studied, and a full-component information array polymagnetic detection technique is proposed. In view of the drift interference signal generated by on-line monitoring, the pre-processing method of signal based on mean Kalman filtering is given. And set up an experimental platform for laboratory testing and verification, the results show that the new experimental device can effectively identify micro-damage with the length less than 3 mm, and can provide multidimensional information parameters of damage signal synthetically.

In order to increase the efficiency of cashmere length carding and decrease the influences in mensuration by persons, a detection procedure and method was proposed based on image processing techniques. The carding cashmere images were captured and converted to the grey level images, and then the images were filtered, binary processed and edge extracted, and the length of carding cashmere was calculated with curvefitting method according to the national standard. The results show that the boundary curve of carding cashmere can be acquired and the mean length of carding cashmere is very close to the length of hand gaging, which certificated that the present method for test carding cashmere length based on digital image processing is valid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with visible/infrared sensors, satellite data-based passive microwave radiometers could provide a more feasible method for retrieving precipitable water vapor (PWV). This paper presents a scheme that retrieves PWV over Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region using satellite radiometer measurements from advanced microwave scanning radiometer (AMSR-E). For bare surfaces, the polarization difference ratio (PDR_WV) obtained from 23. 8 and 18. 7 GHz was found to be sensitive to PWV. For the surface covered by vegetation, surface emissivity was retrieved by AMSR-E with the help of the MODIS atmospheric profile product. Through analyzing the statistical relationship of emissivity polarization difference, an algorithm for retrieving PWV was built. Compared with the GPS results, the root mean square error of our algorithm is 7. 4 mm. Regional consistency was found between the results from MODIS and our algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of wetland tourism, recreation impacts (in wetland scenic area) have attracted increasing attention from both academics and managers of wetland scenic areas. To resolve the conflicts between wetland recreation utilization and environmental protection, it is important to seek an optimal balance point, so as to achieve harmony in further development. In wetland tourism development, how to develop and manage the recreation resources and at the same time guarantee a high quality environment becomes an compelling issue for sustaining and satisfying recreation utilization under the premise of protecting the ecological environment of wetland scenic areas. This research takes Nansha Wetland Park in Guangzhou City, a national 4A tourist attraction, as the study case. Based on first-hand data of field research, questionnaire investigation and open-ended interviews, dimensions of recreation impacts and their influences on recreation quality were examined using structural equation modelling. Firstly, on the basis of a literature review, a conceptual model of recreation impacts was developed; under this theoretical framework, the relationships between recreation impacts of wetland scenic area, recreation quality (recreation experience and overall satisfaction) and revisit intention (loyalty) were discussed and proposed; Secondly, the study explored the construct of recreation impacts and confirmed its dimensions. Thirdly, the study examined the structural relationships in the conceptual model; structural equation modeling being employed to analyze the casual relationships among recreation impacts, recreation quality and revisit intention. Results of this research are as follows: (1) Recreation impacts were found in a second-order factor structure, which includes three dimensions and 16 items; the three dimensions are ecological environment impact, tourist conflict, and facility management impact, the 16 items are soil trampling, vegetation cover trampling, increased informal trails, damaged mangrove community, disturbed wetland protected area, alteration of flora and fauna species, crowded visitors, noise from visitors, long queuing time, other visitors do not abide by the rules and regulations, insufficient facilities for resting, insufficient barrier-free space, small parking lot, insufficient bird-watching space, unskilled logo system design, and man-made sabotage of facilities. (2) Dimensions of recreation impacts had different effects on recreation experience and overall satisfaction of tourists: ecological environment impact and facility management impact negatively affected the recreation experience; facility management impact and tourist conflict negatively affected the overall satisfaction of tourists. (3) Recreation experience positively affected the overall satisfaction and loyalty, and affected loyalty through partial mediation of overall satisfaction indirectly. This research has theoretical significance; it contributes to the knowledge of tourist psychology and recreation behavior in the context of ecological scenic spots with low-density development. The developed theoretical framework of recreation impacts provides reference for future recreation management practices and resource conservation of wetland scenic areas. Managerial implications are discussed based on the empirical results and in-depth interviews of tourists and management personnel. Specifically, measures to reduce recreation impacts, manage recreation resources and formulate recreation management policy and plans are presented. These measures could help realize a win-win situation that enables recreation opportunity utilization maximization and wetland resource conservation. Finally, limitations and recommendations for future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnified preparation of the catalyst was studied in this paper. Activity and stability of the catalyst were evaluated through long period, and deactivation mechanism of the catalyst was studied. The study result showed that average conversion of CO and H2 reached 99. 9% and 9.8% respectively, average selectivity of CH4 attained 98. 5%, and the activity of application catalyst was stable after continuous running of 1 000 hours. Deactivation mechanism study of the catalyst showed that the causes of catalyst deactivation with long period operation were carbon deposition and sintering, in which sintering is the main factor resulting in the decrease of catalyst activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the role of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) in podocyte injury in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in mice., Methods: 1) The 8-week-old male CD-1 mice were selected to construct the model of DKD with streptozocin (STZ). After the model was established, the mice were intraperitoneally injected with HDAC6 inhibitor CAY10603 (5mg/kg/daily) or same volume vehicle as control. The mice were divided into four groups, control (CTL)+vehicle (Veh) ( n =5), CLT+CAY10603 ( n =3), STZ+Veh ( n =9), and STZ+CAY10603 ( n =7). Mice in STZ+Veh and STZ+CAY10603 groups developed DKD, while mice in the CTL+Veh and CTL+CAY10603 groups were served as normal controls. The therapeutic effect was evaluated through urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) and renal pathology after the 2-week treatment with CAY10603. 2) Human podocytes were cultured in vitro and were divided into four groups as follows: CTL, transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ), TGFβ+CAY10603 (250 nmol/L), and TGFβ+CAY10603 (500 nmol/L) groups. The control group did not receive any treatment, the last three groups were given 36-h TGFβ treatment at 5 ng/µL, with or without CAY10603 as indicated for an additional 12 h. Western blot was performed to determine the inhibitory effect of CAY10603 on NLRP3 inflammasome. 3) HDAC 6 knockout (KO) mice were generated and used to create STZ-induced model of DKD. The mice were divided into four groups: C57BL/6J wild type (WT) ( n =6), HDAC 6 KO ( n =6), WT+STZ ( n =10), and HDA C 6 KO+STZ ( n =9). Samples were collected 16 weeks after successful modeling and changes in uACR and renal pathology were evaluated accordingly., Results: After 2 weeks of treatment, mice in the STZ+CAY10603 group exhibited reduction in uACR ( P <0.05) and inhibition of glomerular mesangium expansion ( P <0.05) compared with those of the mice in the STZ+Veh group. There was no statistically significant difference in the indicators between the CTL+Veh group and the CTL+CAY10603 group. In vitro cultured podocytes, compared with the control group, NLRP3 inflammasome activation was seen in the TGFβ group. CAY10603 treatment significantly inhibited the activation of NLRP3 in the dosage-dependent manner ( P <0.05). Compared with those of the WT group, the WT+STZ group showed increased uACR ( P <0.05), obvious glomerulosclerosis and loss of podocytes numbers. Compared with those of the WT+STZ group, the HDAC 6 KO+STZ group showed effectively reduction of uACR ( P <0.05) and improvement in the renal pathological changes in mice. There was no significant difference in these aspects between the WT and HDAC 6 KO groups., Conclusion: Inhibition of HDAC6 alleviates proteinuria and podocyte injury in the mouse model of DKD by suppressing the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome., Competing Interests: 利益冲突　所有作者均声明不存在利益冲突, (© 2023《四川大学学报（医学版）》编辑部 版权所有Copyright ©2023 Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

This study proposed a method to calibrate tube focus spot and the center plane of rotation in computed tomography system. In the method, the tube was rotated to 0° and 180° respectively, and then one metal jig with symmetric windows A and B was scanned at each position under the tube cool and static condition. According to the geometry of tube focus spot, aperture center of the collimator and jig, the distance between tube focus spot and the center plane of rotation were calculated with the X ray transmittance data after denoising, mean value and normalization. To verify the practicability and validity of the method, the tube focus spot in a 16 slices CT system (Brivo CT385, GE, China) was calibrated, and the result after calibration was validated by scanning a polaroid film. The validation result showed that the deviation between tube focal spot and center plane of rotation was 0.02 mm and was in the error range within ± 0.1 mm. The results of this study showed that, as a simple and low-cost design, the method could be used for fast calibration between tube focus spot and the center plane of rotation.

One algorithm is designed to implement longitudinal auto-tracking of the the detector on X-ray in the digital radiography system (DR) with manual collimator. In this study, when the longitudinal length of field of view (LFOV) on the detector is coincided with the longitudinal effective imaging size of the detector, the collimator half open angle ( Ψ ), the maximum centric distance ( e max ) between the center of X-ray field of view and the projection center of the focal spot, and the detector moving distance for auto-traking can be calculated automatically. When LFOV is smaller than the longitudinal effective imaging size of the detector by reducing Ψ , the e max can still be used to calculate the detector moving distance. Using this auto-tracking algorithm in DR with manual collimator, the tested results show that the X-ray projection is totally covered by the effective imaging area of the detector, although the center of the field of view is not aligned with the center of the effective imaging area of the detector. As a simple and low-cost design, the algorithm can be used for longitudinal auto-tracking of the detector on X-ray in the manual collimator DR.

Objective: To assess the exercise capacity of three kinds of pulmonary artery hypertension using cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)., Methods: In the Center for Pulmonary Vascular Disease Diagnosis and Treatment of Fuwai Hospital, idiopathic pulmonary artery hypertension (IPAH), congenital heart disease associated pulmonary artery hypertension (CHD-PAH), connective tissue disease associated pulmonary artery hypertension (CTD-PAH) were enrolled into this study from December 2012 to May 2013. CPET was performed in all patients, and clinical features, routine tests results, N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), Six-minutes-walk distance (6MWD) were all collected., Results: Thirty-two patients with IPAH, 38 patients with CHD-PAH, 25 patients with CTD-PAH were enrolled. For IPAH, CHD-PAH, and CTD-PAH patients, the peak oxygen uptake via body weight (VO₂max/kg) was (12.3 ± 2.3), (14.9 ± 4.0), and (11.1 ± 2.5) ml·min⁻¹·kg⁻¹, respectively. The peak VO₂/kg was significantly different within these three groups (P<0.001), and was significantly higher in CHD-PAH patients compared with the other two groups (P=0.003, P<0.001). The peak VO2/heart rate (HR) was (5.8±1.4), (6.4 ± 1.8), (5.3 ± 1.7) ml·beat(-1)·min⁻¹ in the above three groups and was significantly different within these three groups (P=0.034). The peak VO₂/HR was significantly increased in CHD-PAH patients than CTD-PAD patients (P=0.012). The peak HR was (136.1 ± 21.4), (140.8 ± 19.9), (124.5 ± 21.6) beat/min respectively and was significantly lower in CTD-PAD patients than CHD-PAH patients (P=0.009). The 6MWD was significantly decreased in CTD-PAD patients compared with CHD-PAH and IPAH patients (P=0.006, 0.010). Nt-proBNP was significantly decreased in CTD-PAD patients compared with CHD-PAH patients (P=0.012). In Pearson and partial correlation analysis, the peak VO₂/kg was significantly correlated with peak VO₂/HR, peak HR, 6MWD, Nt-proBNP, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, right ventricular end-diastolic diameter (r=0.477, 0.518, 0.387, 0.465, -0.350, 0.349, -0.259)., Conclusion: CPET parameters can objectively evaluate exercise capacity and cardiopulmonary function of the patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Objective: To explore beryllium oxide induced oxidative lung injury and the protective effects of LBP., Methods: Intoxication of animals were induced by once intratracheal injection and LBP intervention by intragastric administration. The content of HIF-1, VEGF and HO-1 of lung tissues were measured by kits. The pathological changes of lung tissue were showed by pathological section. The changes of lung ultrastructure were observed by electron microscope., Results: Pathological changes of the lung tissue in beryllium oxide exposure group rats were in line with the characteristics of beryllium disease in human. Compared with the control group, HO-1 was increased in beryllium oxide exposure 40 d group and low doses of LBP group, compared with the control group, HO-1 was increased in beryllium oxide exposure 80d group and LBP treatment groups (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, HIF-1 was increased in beryllium oxide exposure 40 d group, LBP treatment groups, beryllium oxide exposure 60 d and 80 d groups (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, VEGF was increased of all phases, especially in beryllium oxide exposure 40d and 80 groups, LBP treatment groups and beryllium oxide exposure 60 d (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The content of HO-1 of beryllium oxide exposure group was higher than the LBP treatment for 40d group but below LBP treatment for 80 d group (P < 0.05). The content of HIF1 of beryllium oxide exposure group was higher than high dose of LBP treatment for 60d group and LBP treatment for 80 d group (P < 0.01). The content of VEGF of beryllium oxide exposure group was higher than LBP treatment for 40 d group and high dose of LBP treatment for 60 d (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01)., Conclusions: BeO can cause abnormal expression of related genes of lung tissue in rats, LBP has protective effects on BeO caused lung injury.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical features and reasons of misdiagnosis of connective tissue disease plus pulmonary embolism (PE)., Methods: The clinical data were reviewed retrospectively for 22 hospitalized patients with connective tissue disease and PE from February 2006 to March 2014. And the features of onset, clinical and laboratory characteristics, imaging tests and causes of misdiagnosis were analyzed., Results: There were 12 males and 10 females with an average age of (36.2 ± 14.2) years. And 12 (54.5%) PE patients had concurrent deep venous thrombosis. Antiphospholipid syndrome and Behcet's disease were the major causes of connective tissue disease. Chest distress, palpitation and extremity swelling were initial symptoms. There were elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (n = 11, 50.0%), elevated C-reactive protein (n = 8, 36.4%) and abnormal autoantibody (n = 15, 68.2%) respectively. Computed tomography showed pulmonary arteries stenosis, occlusion and aneurismal dilation. Eighteen (81.8%) patients had pulmonary hypertension with a systolic pulmonary pressure of (72 ± 20) mmHg (1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa). And 3 of them presented severity of pulmonary pressure non-matched to the degree of pulmonary vascular involvement. And 18 (81.8%) patients with connective tissue disease were missed due to a lack of typical symptoms and physician understanding of disease before admission. Three (13.6%) patients had a misdiagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. The median time of diagnosis was 12 months., Conclusions: Connective tissue disease may develop PE as the initial symptom. And some patients lack typical clinical manifestations of connective tissue disease. It should raise an alert with the physicians.

Objective: To explore the prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in congenital heart disease (CHD) and analyze its independent risk factors., Methods: During May 2007 to December 2008, a total of 704 consecutive CHD patients initially admitted into Fuwai Hospital were recruited. Their baseline data were collected and right heart catheterization (RHC) was performed. Those with a mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) ≥ 25 mmHg (1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa) during RHC were diagnosed as PAH. Multiple Logistic regression was performed to analyze the independent risk factors of PAH., Results: There were 319 males and 385 females with a median age of 5 years. The causes included atrial septal defect (n = 185), ventricular septal defect (VSD, n = 452), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA, n = 48) and a combinations of the above lesions (n = 19). And 280 (39.8%) CHD patients had PAH. Logistic regression analysis revealed that age, systemic artery systolic blood pressure, VSD, PDA and combined lesions were independent risk factors of PAH in CHD (age: OR = 1.017, 95%CI: 1.001-1.033, P = 0.040; systemic artery systolic blood pressure: OR = 0.959, 95%CI: 0.944-0.975, P < 0.001; VSD: OR = 4.402, 95%CI: 2.615-7.411, P < 0.001; PDA: OR = 6.417, 95%CI: 3.079-13.373, P < 0.001; combined lesions: OR = 10.513, 95%CI: 3.641-30.355, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: PAH is a common complication of CHD. Age, peripheral artery systolic blood pressure and type of lesion are independent risk factors of PAH in CHD.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of VKORC1, CYP2C9, GGCX, PROC, EPHX1 and CYP4F2 gene polymorphisms on Warfarin maintenance dose variation in Chinese Han Population., Methods: Four hundred eighty-eight patients with prosthetic heart valves, atrial fibrillation or pulmonary thromboembolism and achieved stable Warfarin dose were enrolled. TaqMan probe or direct sequencing were used to genotype Y9VKORC1, CYP2C9, GGCX, EPHX1 and CYP4F2 gene polymorphisms. Demographic characteristics, stable therapeutic dose of Warfarin and concomitant medications were collected for all patients. The effect of VKORC1, CYP2C9, GGCX, PROC, EPHX1 and CYP4F2 gene polymorphisms, demographic characteristics and concomitant medications on Warfarin daily maintenance dose were analyzed with statistical method., Results: VKORC1 and CYP2C9 gene polymorphisms could explain more than 50% Warfarin maintenance dose variation in recruited patients, while CYP4F2 gene polymorphisms could only explain 1%. GGCX, PROC and EPHX1 gene polymorphisms had no impact no Warfarin maintenance dose. VKORC1 and CYP2C9 gene polymorphisms have a greater impact on Warfarin maintenance dose compared with demographic characteristics and concomitant medications., Conclusion: VKORC1 and CYP2C9 gene polymorphisms have a significant impact on Warfarin maintenance dose in Chinese Han population.

Objectives: To establish an algorithm to predict the warfarin maintenance dose in Chinese Han population and validate the accuracy of this algorithm., Methods: A total of 488 Chinese Han patients, hospitalized in Fuwai hospital and had a stable dose of warfarin and a target international normalized ratio (INR) of 1.5 to 3.0, were recruited. Indications for warfarin use included prosthetic heart valve, atrial fibrillation and pulmonary embolism. These patients were divided into derivation group (n = 323) and validation group (n = 165) according to the enrollment time. A warfarin maintenance dose algorithm was established based on genetic information, demographic characteristics and concomitant medications by multiple linear regression analysis in derivation group. In the validation group, we evaluated the accuracy of our algorithm by comparing the predicted dose with the actual dose., Results: Our algorithm included VKORC1-1639G > A, CYP2C9*3 and CYP4F2 genotype, age, Body hight, body weight, amiodarone and digoxin use (R(2) = 0.652, P < 0.001) .In the validation group, the average predicted dose by our algorithm had no statistical difference with the actual dose [(3.51 ± 1.03) mg vs. (3.53 ± 1.41) mg, P = 0.779]. Our algorithm identified 100 out of 165 (60.6%) patients in the validation group, whose predicted dose of warfarin was within 20% of the actual dose, and predicted warfarin dose was underestimated in 17.6% (29/165) patients and overestimated in 21.8% (36/165) patients., Conclusion: Our algorithm based on VKORC1, CYP2C9 and CYP4F2 polymorphisms can help to predict the warfarin maintenance dose in Chinese Han Population.

Objective: To assess the value of cardiopulmonary exercise test in the evaluation of cardiac function in patients with chronic left heart failure caused by dilated cardiomyopathy., Methods: Fifty-three inpatients aged 18 year and over with chronic left heart failure caused by dilated cardiomyopathy at Fuwai Hospital from October 2010 to October 2011 were selected and divided into 2 groups according to the New York Heart Association (NYHA) heart function classification. One group had 20 cases for class II and another 33 cases for class III-IV. All of them received cardiopulmonary exercise tests. Synchronous measurement and record of gas exchange indices were taken during every breath, and so were heart rate, blood pressure, electrocardiogram and blood oxygen saturation. At the same time, other routine tests were also performed. After exercise test, anaerobic threshold and peak oxygen consumption indices were calculated and statistically analyzed. They also received subsequent follow-ups of 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year, including activities, clinical manifestations and cardiac adverse events., Results: At baseline, the differences in gender, age, body mass index, concurrent diseases, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, left ventricular ejection fraction and serum creatinine had no statistical significance (P > 0.05). Compared with cardiac function class II group, the class III-IV group had higher left atrial diameter, level of amino terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), incidence of atrial fibrillation ((51.4 ± 7.5) vs (43.6 ± 7.7) mm, (2 607 ± 1 782) vs (1 312 ± 901) µg/L, 42.4% (14/33) vs 5.0% (1/20)) and lower glomerular filtration rate, peak oxygen consumption, levels of anaerobic threshold ((72 ± 20) vs (97 ± 23) ml/min, (13.7 ± 2.6) vs (20.5 ± 3.6) ml·min(-1)·kg(-1), (10.7 ± 1.5) vs (13.3 ± 2.1) ml·min(-1)·kg(-1)) (all P < 0.01). And NT-proBNP and cardiac function classification showed a positive correlation (OR = 1.002, P = 0.003) while peak oxygen consumption, anaerobic threshold and cardiac function classification were negatively correlated (OR = 0.736, 0.608; P = 0.011, 0.001)., Conclusions: Cardiopulmonary exercise test objectively reflects the cardiopulmonary reserve of heart failure patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. And the parameters of anaerobic threshold and peak oxygen consumption may reflect the patient's motor ability quantitatively and accurately.

High relapse rate of drug-dependent patients is a serious problem in the current situation. The present article describes how to design and implement virtual reality technology for drug-dependent patients with psychological treatment, with the aim at the addiction withdrawal. The software was developed based on open-source game engine for 2D models. The form of a game simulates the actual style in the day-to-day living environment of drug-dependent patients and the temptation of using drugs. The software helps the patients deal with different scenarios and different event handling, cause their own thinking, and response to the temptation from high-risk environment and from other drug-dependent patients. The function of the software is close to the real life of drug-dependent patients, and has a prospect to become a new treatment to reduce the relapse rate of drug-dependence.

Based on a nonlinear neuron model, the Poisson noise is used to imitate the noisy environments of neurons, and, further, the phenomenon of coherence resonance (CR) of a nonlinear neuron model subject to a voltage-gated channel noise and a random point trains synaptic noise is investigated. Based on the fractional noise theory and Euler schemes, the evolution of the membrane potential and the coefficient of variation (CV) of the interval-spike-interval of the neuron firing have been obtained. It is shown that, in the absence of external periodic signal, such CV can be decreased at a certain intensity of neurotransmitter arrivals trains lambda and a proper strength of the voltage-gated channel noise D, so that the coherence of the system is maximal and the phenomenon of CR can take place.

A rapid and effective gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry method has been developed systematically and studied for the simultaneous determination of 10 organotin compounds, dibutyltin-dichloride (DBT), n-butyltin-trichloride (MBT), triethyltinchloride (TET), fentin-chloride (TPhT), chlorotributylstannane (TBT), tri-n-propyltinchloride (TPrT), diphenyltin-dichloride (DPhT), tetrabutyltin (TeBT), di-n-octyltin-dichloride (DOT), phenyltin trichloride (MPhT)), in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics. The PVC sample was dissolved with tetrahydrofuran and the polymer in the sample was precipitated with methanol, and then the target compounds were derivatized with sodium tetraethylborate and extracted with hexane under ultrasonication. The qualitative and quantitative analysis were carried out by GC-MS and the total ion chromatogram and selected ion chromatogram were obtained. The derivatization and extraction conditions, such as the derivatization time, derivatization pH value, dosages of derivatization reagent and precipitation reagent were optimized. The good linearities, recoveries and precisions were obtained. The linearity ranges were 0.5 - 50 mg/L. The linearity correlation coefficients of 10 organotin compounds were between 0.997 8 and 0.999 7. The average recoveries were 84.23% - 109.1% with relative standard deviations of 4.24% - 10.75%. The established method has been successfully applied to the determination of organotin compounds in PVC plastics.

A sensitive and selective method is presented for simultaneous determination of tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) veterinary drugs. Oxytetracycline (OTC), tetracyclines (TC) and chlortetracycline (CTC) in the chicken muscle were extracted, and then solid-phase cleaned-up on a C18 reversed-phase column to obtain an extract suitable for analysis by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Electrospray ionization was applied and operated in the positive ion mode. The calibration curves were good linear between the peak areas and the mass concentrations of TCs from 25 to 500 microg/L with the correlation coefficient more than 0.99. The average recoveries from spiked chicken muscle at the three concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 microg/kg were from 72.4% to 94.9% with relative, standard deviation less than 11%. The detection limits of TCs were 10 microg/kg. The method was successfully validated for chicken muscle in compliance with the requirements set by Document No. 1 of 2003 dispatched by the Bureau of Animal Husbandary of Ministry of Agriculture. This method is suitable for the determination of OTC, TC and CTC in chicken muscle.

Objective: To study the changes of immune function in mice offspring whose mothers were exposed to Rare Earth (RE)(NO(3))(3)., Methods: RE(NO(3))(3) was administered to mother mice after giving birth by gavage at dosages of 2, 20 and 200 mg/kg bw during breast-feeding period. The weights of spleen and thymus, the spleen plaque forming cells (PFC), the delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) and the charcoal clearance of the offspring were determined., Results: The results obtained from the offspring after weaning showed that the body weight of offspring treated with 200 mg/kg RE(NO(3))(3) was 18.8% lower than that of the control group; at the dosage of 2 mg/kg, the number of IgM-PFC was increased by 82.7%; and at the dosage of 20 mg/kg the rate of clearance and clearance index were significantly higher than that of the control group. No difference in DTH was found in any treated group as compared to the control group. The results of offspring at three weeks after weaning showed that the number of IgM-PFC of the 20 and 200 mg/kg bw dose groups were 47.0% and 44.7% lower than that of control group respectively; the rate of clearance and clearance index of the 200 mg/kg group were significantly lower than that of the control group. No significant changes in DTH were observed in each exposed group., Conclusion: RE(NO(3))(3) treatment affected the immune function of mice offspring which may caused by breast milk.

Objective: To investigate the acquired mutation of type II transforming growth factor beta receptor TbetaR II gene plays a role in the process of glumerulosclerosis., Methods: Biopsy specimens of 32 patients with primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) were examined. Microdissection was used to isolate the morphologically normal glumeruli, segmental sclerotic glomeruli (SSG) global sclerotic glomeruli (GSG), and in the same specimen, representing the sequence of glomerulosclerosis. DNA was extracted by one-step method. The A10 microsatellite instability (709 approximately 718) in TbetaRII gene was detected by high-fidelity PCR and strand length polymorphism. Scanning technique was used to calculate the mutation rate of TBRII gene A10 sequence., Results: A total of 192 sites of glomeruli from 32 patients were analyzed. The standard curve for mutant integrated pixel density (IPD) percentages (10% 32% 55% 75% 88%) versus DNA mutant ratios (17% 24% 53% 79% 95%) showed excellent linear correlation (r = 0.990 8). DNA from the glomeruli of NG, SSG, and GSG of all cases showed very low ratios of mutant allele (1 approximately 5%)., Conclusion: Mutation of TbetaRII gene A10 microsatellite sequence can not been detected during the progress of glomerulosclerosis.

Background: To search a novel sensitive, specific and lower cost method applicable for quantitative analysis of the hepatitis B virus DNA extensively., Methods: Quantitative analysis of the DNA from 100 sera by real-time PCR with Sybr green 1. The results of Sybr's assay were compared with the results obtained with Taqman's fluorescent quantitative assay., Results: Taqman real-time PCR could help evaluate the level of virus reliably. The results of Sybr's assay were in agreement with the Taqman's assay, but detection rate was lower., Conclusions: Sybr green 1 real-time PCR appeared to be convenient and cheap, but detection rate was lower.

Objective: To explore the relationship of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) gene -675 4G/5G and beta fibrinogen gene -455 G/A variations to glomerular microthrombosis(T) in lupus nephritis(LN)., Methods: One hundred and one patients with biopsy proven LN were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of glomerular microthrombus, i.e. group LN+T(n=46) and group LN-T(n=55). The genotypes of PAI-1 gene and beta fibrinogen gene were profiled by polymerase chain reaction-sequence length polymorphism (PCR-SLP) and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) respectively. Clinical baseline data at the time of renal biopsy were collected. Normal controls consisted of 128 unrelated healthy adults. The etiologic fractions (EF) were calculated for estimating the contribution of risk genotypes of the two candidate genes to an increase in susceptibility to glomerular microthrombosis in LN patients., Results: Both the 4G/4G genotype and the 4G allele of PAI-1 gene occurred more frequently in group LN+T (47.83% and 0.685) than in group LN-T (23.64% and 0.507)(P<0.05) and normal controls (28.13% and 0.570) (P<0.05). The PAI-1 4G/4G genotype was significantly associated with microthrombosis (OR=2.96, 95%CI:1.26-6.92). Besides, the prevalence of the genotypes carrying the A allele of beta fibrinogen gene, i.e. G/A and A/A, as well as the prevalence of the A allele per se, was increased in group LN+T (47.83% and 0.261) versus group LN-T (27.27% and 0.145)(P<0.05). LN patients carrying the A allele had a high risk of glomerular thrombosis(OR=2.44, 95%CI:0.98-5.59). In addition, the presence of the PAI-1 4G/4G genotype together with the A allele of the beta fibrinogen gene was found to be a greater risk factor (OR=4.5, 95%CI: 1.34-15.12) for glomerular thrombosis in LN than the 4G/4G genotype or the A allele alone. The pooled EF (45.98%) for the risk genotypes of both PAI-1 gene and beta fibrinogen gene was also higher than that for the risk genotypes of either gene (31.67% and 28.23%)., Conclusion: The above findings indicated that genetic variations in PAI-1 and beta fibrinogen loci might represent risk factors for glomerular microthrombosis in LN. They may have synergetic impact and present gene dosage effect on the susceptibility to this pathological subphenotype.