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The clinical implications of CSF-ctDNA positivity in newly diagnosed diffuse large B cell lymphoma (ND-DLBCL) remains largely unexplored. One hundred ND-DLBCL patients were consecutively enrolled as training cohort and another 26 ND-DLBCL patients were prospectively enrolled in validation cohort. CSF-ctDNA positivity (CSF(+)) was identified in 25 patients (25.0%) in the training cohort and 7 patients (26.9%) in the validation cohort, extremely higher than CNS involvement rate detected by conventional methods. Patients with mutations of CARD11, JAK2, ID3, and PLCG2were more predominant with CSF(+) while FAT4mutations were negatively correlated with CSF(+). The downregulation of PI3K-AKT signaling, focal adhesion, actin cytoskeleton, and tight junction pathways were enriched in CSF(+) ND-DLBCL. Furthermore, pretreatment CSF(+) was significantly associated with poor outcomes. Three risk factors, including high CSF protein level, high plasma ctDNA burden, and involvement of high-risk sites were used to predict the risk of CSF(+) in ND-DLBCL. The sensitivity and specificity of pretreatment CSF-ctDNA to predict CNS relapse were 100% and 77.3%. Taken together, we firstly present the prevalence and the genomic and transcriptomic landscape for CSF-ctDNA(+) DLBCL and highlight the importance of CSF-ctDNA as a noninvasive biomarker in detecting and monitoring of CSF infiltration and predicting CNS relapse in DLBCL.

In this paper, we explore a cooperative decode-and-forward (DF) relay network comprised of a source, a relay, and a destination in the presence of an eavesdropper. To improve physical-layer security of the relay system, we propose a jamming aided decode-and-forward relay (JDFR) scheme combining the use of artificial noise and DF relaying which requires two stages to transmit a packet. Specifically, in stage one, the source sends confidential message to the relay while the destination acts as a friendly jammer and transmits artificial noise to confound the eavesdropper. In stage two, the relay forwards its re-encoded message to the destination while the source emits artificial noise to confuse the eavesdropper. In addition, we analyze the security-reliability tradeoff (SRT) performance of the proposed JDFR scheme, where security and reliability are evaluated by deriving intercept probability (IP) and outage probability (OP), respectively. For the purpose of comparison, SRT of the traditional decode-and-forward relay (TDFR) scheme is also analyzed. Numerical results show that the SRT performance of the proposed JDFR scheme is better than that of the TDFR scheme. Also, it is shown that for the JDFR scheme, a better SRT performance can be obtained by the optimal power allocation (OPA) between the friendly jammer and user.

The map consists of 11 contigs with a total length of 34.5Mb covering 94 percent of the estimated chromosome size. The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and physical mapping shows that the short arm and the pricentromeric region of the long arm are rich in heterochromatin indicating that the chromosome is very difficult to sequence.

In this paper, the 90Sr/90Y coating effects on scattering width (SW) of cylindrical conductor targets are investigated. The electron density distribution of plasma around cylindrical targets of different radiuses is simulated under different radioactivities in normal or oblique incidence. In normal incidence, the SWs are examined as functions of frequency and scattering angle; while in oblique incidence, the SW is inspected as a function of incident angle at the frequency of 1.5 GHz. The results obtained are compared with those from an ideal perfect electric conductor (PEC) cylinder. It is demonstrated that the SW decreases over a wide frequency range in the back scattering region by coating a 90Sr/90Y layer on the cylindrical target. Moreover, the reduction in bi-static SW amplitude can reach 3–20 dB, when the incident angle is smaller than 30° at 1.5 GHz. It is a significant improvement in the stealth effect.

•Insecticidal effects of B. balsamiferaEO were determined for the first time.•EO of B. balsamiferapoorly performed in fumigation tests.•β-Caryophyllene showed the strongest contact toxicity against the three insects.•T. castaneumshowed sensitivity to B. balsamiferaEO in repellency tests.•B. balsamiferahas the potential to be explored as plant-origin insecticides.

A facile synthesis for cyano-chlorin related to chlorophyll from a formyl-substituted chlorin, prepared by the oxidation of methyl (pyro)pheophorbide-a, was accomplished by a tandem reaction.

To improve Mixograph testing effect, Farinograph measurements were adopted as a quality standard and changes in water absorption and parameter conversion in Mixograph test were explored. Comparative study showed that increasing water absorption to about 73% and converting original parameters to compound parameters in Mixograph tests significantly increased their predictive power for flour quality. These efforts also enabled the adoption of fixed water addition level in Mixograph test and simplified the test procedure significantly. With the success in parameter conversions, Mixograph test results were successfully described by Farinograph parameters, which allow breeders to compare and exchange test results easily. All these changes optimized the official method of Mixograph test with simplified procedure and enhanced reliability and made the Mixograph being the superior tool for quality assessment in wheat-breeding programs.

Estimation of water content is the foundation of natural gas processing and designing, and a formula calculation method provides a solution simple and easy to be programmed by computers. In this regard, several main formula calculation methods of water content in sweet natural gas were reviewed and evaluated individually. There are formulas fitted with nomographic data (e.g. Sloan formula, Ning Yingnan formula, Khaled formula and Bahadori formula), empirical formulas fitted with experimental data (e.g. Zhu Lin formula, Behr formula and Kazim formula) and formulas generated based on water-hydrocarbon phases equilibrium (e.g. Saturated Vapor Pressure Model, Modified Ideal Model, Simplified Thermodynamic Model and Bukacek formula). The comparison of calculated and experimental values of each above formula calculation method indicates that, the Khaled formula provided the minimum average absolute deviation (AAD) – 2.524 0%, while the Behr method achieved the maximum AAD – 19.255%. After the analysis of the AAD results calculated by the methods at different temperature ranges, the Zhu Lin formula is recommended for −50 to −40 °C, the Sloan formula for −40 to 0 °C, the Simplified Thermodynamic Model for 0 to 37.78 °C, the Khaled formula for 37.78 to 171.11 °C, and the Bukacek formula for 171.11 to 237.78 °C.

A numerical simulation for heat exchanger with continuous helical baffles was carried out. The study focuses on the effects of helix angle on heat transfer characteristics. The results show that both the shell-side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop decrease with the increase of the helix angle at certain mass flow rate. The latter decreases more quickly than the former. The tangential velocity distribution on shell-side cross section is more uniform with continuous helical baffles than with segmental baffles. The axial velocity at certain radial position decreases as the helix angle increases in the inner region near the central dummy tube, whereas it increases as the helix angle increases in the outer region near the shell. The heat exchange quantity distribution in tubes at different radial positions is more uniform at larger helix angel.

This paper develops wireless automation control platform using Android intelligent system and applied it to automatic control mobile devices of lighting, temperature and infra-red ray at home. This paper establishes auto-regression mathematical model of wireless control network and designs algorithms of signal’s transmitting and receiving. In order to verify the validity of the mathematical model and algorithm, it designs automatic control experiments and takes 2.4G sub-controller collaboration wireless network platform for example and designs the automation control network of SimpliciTI protocol. It uses CC2511F32 equipment to achieve the automatic control of household electrical appliances. Finally, this paper applied the control system to the dynamic evaluation system in the online shop treats the feedback regulation of online shoppers in the decision-making processes and verifies the general applicability of the system.

In the paper, combining the advantages of interface design of VB and secondary design of ANSYS, the electric calculating software for epoxy resin casting dry-type transformer was designed. In the procedure of designing transformer, designers only need to input the structure parameters and electrical parameters of the transformer, which would be transferred to ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) program automatically. Then, the different loading conditions and post-procedure programs can be selected. Furthermore, VB calls ANSYS from the background program and reads the APDL file to calculate electric field distribution. Finally, the case analysis verifies that the software can establish the finite element model automatically and calculate the electrical field distribution under any fundamental frequency voltage and lighting surge.

China is a big agricultural country, which had many kinds of biomass resources. Biomass energy belongs to clean energy, it was available to achieve zero co2 emissions and substitute fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas to be an important energy. Through the transformation of 35t/h coal-fired CFB boiler, which based on material and circulated carrier, burning biological energy, changed boiler from consuming one-time energy to the regenerative energy, which saved coal and prevented waste from directly emitting into the atmosphere to pollute the environment. It would save energy and increase the local farmers additional income by sell stem, which followed the trend of the national development strategy. The test data show that: this transformation of boiler is very successful, indicate that we can transform some original polluted boiler which consume coal to some degree and provide some experimental methods for these transformations.

A high reliability, flexible reactive power automatic compensation controller based on PLC is designed, which the structure and principle of the system is explicitly specified. The controller adopts commercial PLC as the control core,TD400C as human-machine interface, and uses ABB RVT-6 power factor controller to control the switching of the capacitor. Blocking structure is used to design software, whose structure is clear and easy to debug and modify. Running result obtained from relevant application describing the novelty of reactive power compensators implemented with new technologies is also described.

A method of parameter estimation of induction motor based on optimization using a chaotic swarm algorithm is presented. The parameter estimation methodology describes a method for estimating the steady-state equivalent circuit parameters from the motor performance characteristic, which is normally available from manufacturer data or from tests. The optimization problem is formulated as multi-objective function to minimize the error between the estimated and the manufacturer data. Chaotic ant swarm algorithm is a novel optimization method, which has the ability of global optimum search. A numerical simulation on the test motor is conducted. Simulation results show that the proposed method is effective in parameter estimation of the induction motor.

This paper proposes a digital watermarking algorithm based on two-way Arnold transformation and QR code. This algorithm uses the QR barcode as the watermark, and in its pretreatment process it uses the two-way Arnold transformation to broke up the QR code image into blocks which then coded and re-arranged in a specific order. Considering the role of Singular Value Decomposition in watermark embedding, here the watermark information is embedded into the low frequency coefficients of wavelet transform of the carrier image. Simulation results show that the algorithm is robust against attacks such as shearing, the JPEG compression and noise attacking.

The superfluous application and low use efficiency of chemical nitrate nitrogen fertilizer account for the nitrogen pollution of soil and water, threatening human’s health. In order to raise the fertilizer use efficiency, prevent from non- point pollution and nitrogen pollution of groundwater, and select superior material, five different kinds of super absorbent polymer (SAP) were selected as the objects. Through the analysis of the characteristics change of water and fertilizer absorbing of the five SAPs within different concentration of NO3--N, and the discussion of interactive effects between the SAPs and NO3--N, it is showed that: the water absorbent ability of all kinds of SAP exhibits a negative relationship with the concentration of KNO3 by decreasing of more than 50%. For all the five types of SAPs, the type of polyacrylate shows the strongest ability of water absorbing in all kinds of KNO3 concentration and the type of humic acid- polyacrylate is least affected by saline solution. The type of PAM- inorganic mineral SAP does well in nitrogen absorbing, whose absorbing amount linearly increases with the KNO3 concentration increasing, while the other types of SAP shows no obvious ability for nitrogen absorbing.

This paper puts forward that we can make glass fiber enhanced detaching-free template by using GRC composite materials, steel wire and other materials.In the construction,concrete beam and template form "Template /concrete" composite structure, which can make GRC template as a permanent structure bearing the stress together with concrete beam. Through the contrast test analysis and research of different treatments composite beams ,we can know the mechanical behavior and cooperative working performance of different composite beams.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from adult exhibit self-renewal and multilineage differentiation capacities, making the MSCs promising candidates for cell therapy and tissue engineering. Although bone marrow (BM) is the most universal source of MSCs, other tissues may also contain MSCs. Peripheral blood (PB), in particular, arises as the most attractive source of MSCs due to easy accessibility and noninvasive procedure. However, it is not certain that PB-MSCs have the equal biological characteristics to those of BM-MSCs. The purpose of this study was to compare the biological characteristics between BM-MSCs and PB-MSCs. We adopted granulocyte colony-stimulating factor combined with CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100 to stimulate MSCs to release into blood circulation of the rats. PB-MSCs were obtained from mobilized PB and expanded in long-term culture. BM-MSCs were isolated from the femur and tibia medullary canal of the same rats by density gradient centrifugation. After cell expansion in vitro, cell surface markers and multipotentiality analysis were performed to identify MSCs. Apoptosis resistance to H2O2-induced apoptosis, proliferation kinetics, cellular senescence, and karyotype analysis were measured to compare the biological characteristics of PB-MSCs and BM-MSCs. PB-MSCs with the typical adherent fibroblast-like morphology were similar to that of BM-MSCs. Both PB-MSCs and BM-MSCs were positive for CD44 and CD90, and negative for CD34 and CD45. They both exhibited trilineage differentiation potential and expressed lineage-specific genes. Although the BM-MSCs showed stronger osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation, PB-MSCs displayed a more chondrogenic capacity. Further, BM-MSCs have greater proliferation ability. Apoptosis resistance and cellular senescence were similar in MSCs derived from both sources. The results of our study demonstrate that PB-MSCs have similar biological characteristics to those of BM-MSCs despite certain minor differences, suggesting PB as a possible alternative source for MSCs.

This paper introduces a stressed member which is composited of GRC enhanced reinforcement template combined with post-pouring concrete structure. The GRC template is as a permanent template combining with concrete into a composite beam. The surface of the template is respectively dealed in different ways. Through contrasting the results of stress performance experiment with ordinary beam,studing the cooperative performance between GRC templates and post-pouring concrete, as well as the effect of bearing stress of composite beams with templates in different treatment ways. The optimal size is diameter 15mm, depth 5mm from the experiment.

The alien space meridians stair steel structure is first adopted in Taizhou medical city exhibition center project. Based on the finite element calculation method for curved beam element stiffness matrix, convergence standard controls and iteration method of solving the modification and optimization in this paper, the complex alien space meridians framed calculation model is built, and the distribution of axial force and bending moment distribution of the stairs meridians skeleton structure are calculated, and the position and numbers are determined. Numerical results show that the maximum space alien meridians stair axial force is 34.5 KN and maximum bending moment is 5.9 KN•m, which satisfy the standard requirement, then the size curvature big, mechanical transmission line complex and local internal force big technology problem skeleton structure have been solved .Therefore, a strong engineering application value achieves in this paper.

Transmission tower, being of evident nonlinear characteristic, is a complex space structure. Linear theory is generally adopted in the process of designing, which results in a waste of resource and disaster. Starting from the problems exiting in the process of transmission tower designing, the space beam element is adopted in the thesis, which reduces material nonlinearity through the rod end of the plastic method, and the geometric large deformation problem is involved by considering the amendment of the element stiffness matrix. Arc-length method of iterative computation is adopted as the solution method. On the premise of clarifying the process of dual non-linear solution, this thesis combines specific project example through self-organizing the finite element programming to calculate displacement - load curve, and the results show that the transmission tower structural system possesses obvious nonlinear characteristics. The research lays a foundation for improving the accuracy of space truss structure and developing the large specific finite element software.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of a tissue-engineered bone complex of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2)-mediated dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen/poly(L-lactide) (nHAC/PLA) to reconstruct critical-size alveolar bone defects in New Zealand rabbit. Autologous DPSCs were isolated from rabbit dental pulp tissue and expanded ex vivoto enrich DPSCs numbers, and then their attachment and differentiation capability were evaluated when cultured on the culture plate or nHAC/PLA. The alveolar bone defects were treated with nHAC/PLA, nHAC/PLA+rhBMP-2, nHAC/PLA+DPSCs, nHAC/PLA+DPSCs+rhBMP-2, and autogenous bone (AB) obtained from iliac bone or were left untreated as a control. X-ray and a polychrome sequential fluorescent labeling were performed postoperatively and the animals were sacrificed 12 weeks after operation for histological observation and histomorphometric analysis. Our results showed that DPSCs expressed STRO-1 and vementin, and favored osteogenesis and adipogenesis in conditioned media. DPSCs attached and spread well, and retained their osteogenic phenotypes on nHAC/PLA. The rhBMP-2 could significantly increase protein content, alkaline phosphatase activity/protein, osteocalcin content, and mineral formation of DPSCs cultured on nHAC/PLA. The X-ray graph, the fluorescent, histological observation, and histomorphometric analysis showed that the nHAC/PLA+DPSCs+rhBMP-2 tissue-engineered bone complex had an earlier mineralization and more bone formation inside the scaffold than nHAC/PLA, nHAC/PLA+rhBMP-2, and nHAC/PLA+DPSCs, or even autologous bone. Implanted DPSCs' contribution to new bone was detected through transfected eGFP genes. Our findings indicated that stem cells existed in adult rabbit dental pulp tissue. The rhBMP-2 promoted osteogenic capability of DPSCs as a potential cell source for periodontal bone regeneration. The nHAC/PLA could serve as a good scaffold for autologous DPSC seeding, proliferation, and differentiation. The tissue-engineered bone complex with nHAC/PLA, rhBMP-2, and autologous DPSCs might be a better alternative to autologous bone for the clinical reconstruction of periodontal bone defects.

Cells, scaffolds, and growth factors are the three main factors for creating a stem-cell-based tissue-engineered construct, but the interactions between three factors are not very clear. We hereby explored the interactions between rat-adipose-derived stromal cells (rASCs), recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2), and beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) to provide evidence for their application in bone tissue engineering by evaluating the protein adsorption of β-TCP, the cell attachment, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity/protein, osteocalcin (OCN) content, mineral formation, calcium content, phosphonium content, cell vitality, gene expression, and implantation in the backs of severe combined immunodeficient mice of rhBMP-2 preinducing rASCs seeded onto β-TCP. The results showed that β-TCP could adsorb the proteins from the media. The attachment, proliferation, and osteogenic properties of rASCs were supported by β-TCP, as revealed using scanning electron microscopy. Compared with rASCs cultured on the culture plate, rASCs cultured on β-TCP had significantly higher ALP activity/protein, OCN content, and mineral formation. These values for rASCs cultured on β-TCP with rhBMP-2 increased most significantly. The rhBMP-2 significantly increased the calcium content, phosphonium content, and ALP, type I collagen, and OCNmRNA levels of rASCs cultured on β-TCP. The methylthiazol tetrazolium method revealed that the vitality of rASCs cultured on β-TCP with or without rhBMP-2 for 4, 7, and 28 days in vitrowas insignificantly different. After 8 and 12 weeks of implantation, each group displayed increased bone formation over the 12-week period. The percentage of the new bone formed areas for β-TCP/rhBMP-2 and β-TCP was not significantly different. This value for rASCs/β-TCP construct was significantly higher than that for β-TCP group, but the maximal and robust bone formation was presented in rASCs/β-TCP with rhBMP-2. The results implied that stem cells existed in adult rat adipose tissue. β-TCP could adsorb rhBMP-2 from the media and had osteoinductivity when alone implanted in the back of severe combined immunodeficient mice. β-TCP was also sufficient to trigger the differentiation of rASCs toward an osteoblastic phenotype without the addition of osteogenic factor. The rhBMP-2 could better sufficiently induce osteogenic differentiation of rASCs seeded onto β-TCP. The rASCs and rhBMP-2 could promote the dissolution of β-TCP to provide Ca2+and PO3−4needed for bone formation. The interactions between the three factors could provide an optimizing microenvironment for osteogenic differentiation of rASCs, and this might be essential for sufficient and timely bone formation in vivo. This study may provide insight into the clinical repair of bone defect with ASCs+β-TCP+rhBMP-2 construct.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dosimetry of single fraction, single-isocenter intensity-modulated radiosurgery (IMRS) plans for multiple intracranial metastases and to compare Helical Tomotherapy (HT). Ten treatment plans with 3–6 brain metastases treated with IMRS were re-planned with HT. The mean number of lesions was 5 and mean PTV 22 cm3. The prescribed dose was 16–20 Gy. The mean V100% was similar for IMRS and HT, and the mean conformity index was 1.4, mean Paddick confirmity index was 0.7, and mean MDPD was 1.1 for both. The mean gradient index was similar for both. The mean 50% isodose volume was 179.2 cm3for IMRS and 277.0 cm3for HT (p=0.01). The mean maximum doses to organs at risk were lower for IMRS except brainstem and right optic nerve. For brain, the integral dose was 5.1 and 6.8 Gy-kg (p<0.001) and mean dose 4.0 and 5.4 Gy (p<0.001) for IMRS and HT, respectively. The mean treatment times were 23 (IMRS) and 41 (HT) minutes. Conformity and homogeneity indices were equivalent and sparing of the organs at risk was clinically acceptable for both IMRS and HT. Though the gradient index was similar for IMRS and HT, the mean 50% isodose volume and integral dose to normal brain were lower for IMRS as was treatment time.

Layered approximately regular (LAR) low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are proposed, with which one single pair of encoder and decoder support various code lengths and code rates. The parity check matrices of LAR-LDPC codes have a "layer-block-cell" structure with some additional constraints. An encoder architecture is then designed for LAR-LDPC codes, by making two improvements to the Richardson-Urbanke approach: the forward substitution operation is entirely removed and the dense-matrix-vector multiplication is handled using feedback shift-registers. A partially parallel decoder architecture is also designed for LAR-LDPC codes, where a layered modified mm-sum decoding algorithm is used to trade off among complexity, speed, and performance. More importantly, the interconnection network, which is inevitable for partially parallel decoders, has much lower hardware complexity compared with that for general LDPC codes. Both the encoder and decoder architectures are highly flexible in code length and code rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between expression of cell cycle-related protein cyclin D1, p27kip1 and the pathogenesis of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) and the value of prediction of prognosis. Methods: Cyclin D1 and p27kip1 protein were detected by immunohistochemical En Vision method in 43 BACs. Results: The positivity of cyclin D1 in BAC was 65.1% (28/43), which was significantly higher than that in normal pulmonary tissue (0/13),P<0.01. No statistically significant association was found between cyclin D1 expression data and sex, age, tobacco-use history, histologic subtype (mucinous vs nonmucinous), stromal fibrosis, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage or postoperative survival period (P>0.05), while cyclin D1 expression was found to be negatively correlated with tumor size (P<0.05). The positivity of p27kip1 in BACs was 51.2% (22/43), significantly lower than that in normal pulmonary tissue (12/13),P<0.01. p27kip1 expression level was not associated with sex, age, tobacco-use history, tumor size or histologic subtype (P<0.05), but was negatively correlated with stromal fibrosis, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage (P<0.05); and positively associated with postoperative survival period (P<0.01). The survival rate of p27kip1 positive group was significantly higher than that of p27kip1 negative group (P<0.01). No statistically significant correlation was found between cyclin D1 and p27kip1 expression. Conclusions: Increased cyclin D1 expression and decreased p27kip1 expression are related to the pathogenesis of BAC; decreased p27kip1 expression is associated with metastasis progression; immunodetection of p27kip1 is useful for assessment of prognosis.

Summary: The function of spontaneous T suppressor cell (STs) of peripheral blood was examined in 56 patients with schistosomiasis japonica at various stages. The subsets of T cell were simultaneously phenotyped in 46 cases. The percentages of CD3+(pan T cell), CD4+ (helper/inducer T cell) and CD8+ (suppressor/cytotoxic T cell) in patients with acute schistosomiasis japonica were significantly higher than those in the normal controls. In patients with chronic and advanced schistosomiasis japonica, the percentage of CD8+ T cell and the function of STs were greatly increased, but the percentage of CD3+ T cell and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ were obviously reduced. All of these markers changed more significantly in patients with advanced schistosomiasis japonica. The percentage of CD8+ T cell in patients with acute schistosomiasis japonica was negatively correlated with the function of STs. In patients with chronic and advanced schistosomiasis japonica the percentage of CD8+ T cell was correlated positively and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ negatively with the function of STs. The results indicated that the cellular immunity was significantly increased in cases of acute schistosomiasis japonica and decreased in those with chronic or advanced schistosomiasis japonica. The increased CD8+ T cell may be principally cytotoxic T cells in patients with acute schistosomiasis japonica, but suppressor T cells in patients with chronic and advanced schistosomiasis japonica. The subsets of T cells and the function of T suppressor cells may play an important role in the immunoregulation of schistosomiasis japonica.

Summary: The level of interleukin-2 (IL-2) produced by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro, T cell subsets and the function of T suppressor cells (Ts) in patients with schistosomiasis japonica were investigated. It was found that the level of IL-2 induced by schistosomal antigens was significantly high and positively related to the percentage of CD4+ cells. In the groups of chronic and advanced schistosomiasis japonica, the level of IL-2 induced by schistosomal antigens was markedly lower than that in the group of acute schistosomiasis japonica, but significantly higher than that in the group of normal controls. The IL-2 level was negatively related to the percentage of CD8+ T cells and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+. The level of IL-2 induced by PHA was greatly reduced in the group of advanced schistosomiasis japonica. The changes in the level of IL-2 and its relationship with T cell subsets and the function of Ts are also discussed.

Summary: In liver biopsies from 21 patients with schistosomiasis japonica complicated by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 69 patients with advanced schistosomiasis japonica, and 25 patients with HCC, HBsAg and HBcAg were investigated with peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique. The positive rate of HBAg (i.e. HBsAg and/or HBcAg) in the liver of patients with schistosomiasis japonica complicated by HCC was significantly higher than in the group of advanced schistosomiasis japonica, but similar to that in cases of HCC. The location of carcinoma cells in the liver was not related to the distribution of schistosomial ova in patients with schistosomiasis japonica complicated by HCC. The results indicated that the complication with hepatitis B virus infection may be one of the major factors involved in the development of HCC in patients with schistosomiasis japonica.

The quartic self-coupling constant in an open static Einstein universe is investigated. The temperature and curvature effects to coupling constant is discussed through the one-loop renormalized effective potential.

Summary Prior work proved that it is possible to find a unique solution to the problem of defining the configuration of electric current underlying observed extracranial magnetic fields, if sufficient priori knowledge of the source configuration is available. This minimum-norm least-squares (MNLS) inverse solution for a magnetic source image (MSI) is extended here to include temporal as well as spatial parameters of the underlying current pattern. This capitalizes on the temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG), which is on the order of milliseconds. Other forms of functional brain imaging are far less sensitive to the rate of change of states of the brain. Influences on the quality of the resulting MSI by measurement noise and errors in determining the image surface are characterized. A new technique for reducing noise in the inverse problem is developed by taking into consideration the spatial and time-dependence of the noise detected by the sensors. This new approach to regularization reduces the contribution from noisy measurements to the inverse calculation, and therefore improves the stability of the inverse.

Summary The flow of ionic currents within the neurons of cerebral cortex produces a magnetic field that can be detected outside the human scalp. The dominant contribution is attributed to pyramidal cells, which are preferentially oriented perpendicular to the cortical surface. In general, it is not possible to deduce a unique representation of the spatial configuration of these cortical sources from a measurement of their field pattern alone. However, accuratea priori knowledge of the geometry of the underlying cerebral cortex makes it possible to infer the spatial configuration of these transcortical current sources, moment by moment, without imposing a simplified model such as a small set of current dipoles. To achieve such a realistic magnetic source image, we have introduced what we call the "Minimum-Norm Least-Squares Inverse" (MNLS inverse) for the magnetic problem. The MNLS inverse provides the least residual error in accounting for the measured field pattern, with a source current distribution having minimum power. An extension of this procedure provides an inverse solution for average field power, as opposed to fieldper se. This makes it possible to define spatial configurations of spontaneous cortical activity not phase-locked to a sensory stimulus. Rhythmic activity such as the occipital alpha rhythm is one example. Thus, it is possible to determine spatial patterns of enhanced or suppressed cortical rhythms that accompany cognitive processes and some pathological conditions. This paper provides the necessary background for understanding these recent developments, as well as examples of how they might be used.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

The first report about the synthesis of C—C bond linked pyridyl chlorins (III) (3 examples) via a stereoselective aldol‐like condensation reaction is given.

Substrate (I) is obtained from chlorophyll paste by known procedures.

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