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Increased use of pyrethroids and the exposure to pyrethroids for pregnant women and children have raised the concerns over the potential effect of pyrethroids on developmental cardiotoxicity and other abnormalities. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether long term perinatal deltamethrin exposure altered embryonic cardiac electrophysiology in mice. Pregnant mice were administered with 0 or 3 mg/kg of deltamethrin by gavage daily from gestational day (gd) 10.5 to gd 17. 5. Whole cell patch-clamp technique was used in electrophysiological study, and real time RT-PCR was applied to analyze the molecular changes for the electrophysiological properties. Deltamethrin exposure resulted in increased mortality of pregnant mice and decreased viability of embryos. Moreover, deltamethrin slowed the maximum depolarization velocity (Vmax), prolonged the action potential duration (APD) and depolarized the maximum diastolic potential (MDP) of embryonic cardiomyocytes. Additionally, perinatal deltamethrin exposure decreased the mRNA expression of Na+channel regulatory subunit Navβ1, inward rectifier K+channel subunit Kir2.1, and delayed rectifier K+channel subunit MERG while the L-type Ca2+channel subunit, Cav1.2 expression was increased. On the contrary, deltamethrin administration did not significantly alter the regulation of β-adrenergic or muscarinic receptor on embryonic cardiomyocytes. In conclusion, deltamethrin exposure at perinatal stage significantly alters mRNA expression of embryonic cardiac ion channels and therefore influences embryonic cardiac electrophysiological properties. This highlights the need to understand the persistent effects of pyrethroid exposure on cardiac function during embryonic development due to potential for cardiac arrhythmogenicity.

The suspended magnetic moxibustion cupping therapy, as a specific moxibustion method which collects moxibustion, cupping, infrared and magnetic therapy into one, and integrates with the warming and heating effect of moxibustion, sucking effect of cups, and effect of infrared light energy and magnetic energy, is a particularly unique method for weight loss. This article introduces the basic situation and mechanism of suspended magnetic cupping therapy for weight loss. For pathogenesis of deficiency, phlegm, stagnation and cold in obesity, Shuang Long Xi Zhu (two dragons playing a ball) moxibustion, abdominal Jiu Gong (nine palaces) moxibustion, San Yang Kai Tai (auspicious beginning) moxibustion and Chang Long (long dragon) moxibustion were given respectively. This therapy has inspired the clinical idea of Chinese medicine for obesity. 悬磁灸罐特色灸法集灸法、罐法、红外线以及磁疗4种治疗手段于一体, 综合了灸的温热效应、罐的负压作用、红外光能与磁能作用, 是一种极具特色的减肥方法。本文介绍了悬磁灸罐的基本情况和减肥机理。针对肥胖症虚、痰、瘀、寒的病机, 给予对应的双龙戏珠灸、腹部九宫灸、三阳开泰灸和长龙灸的针灸处方。这一疗法拓展了中医治疗肥胖症的临床思路。

Cell separation technology is an important means for cell sorting and cell-population purification. It is the current international hotspot in biochemical analysis which is widely applied in many fields such as biology, medicine, agriculture, and environment. This review introduces the development status of cell separation using microfluidic chip based on dielectrophoresis (DEP). It expounds the working principle of DEP and the key factors that impact the DEP of cell separation such as cellular size, electrode shapes and signals. Finally, it forecasts the future development trend of cell separation using microfluidic chip based on DEP.

Temporal subtraction images constructed from image registration can facilitate the visualization of pathologic changes. In this study, we propose a deformable image registration (DIR) framework for creating temporal subtraction images of chest radiographs. We developed a DIR methodology using two different image similarity metrics, varying flow (VF) and compressible flow (CF). The proposed registration method consists of block matching, filtering, and interpolation. Specifically, corresponding point pairs between reference and target images are initially determined by minimizing a nonlinear least squares formulation using grid-searching optimization. A two-step filtering process, including least median of squares filtering and backward matching filtering, is then applied to the estimated point matches in order to remove erroneous matches. Finally, moving least squares is used to generate a full displacement field from the filtered point pairs. We applied the proposed DIR method to 10 pairs of clinical chest radiographs and compared it with the demons and B-spline algorithms using the five-point rating score method. The average quality scores were 2.7 and 3 for the demons and B-spline methods, but 3.5 and 4.1 for the VF and CF methods. In addition, subtraction images improved the visual perception of abnormalities in the lungs by using the proposed method. The VF and CF models achieved a higher accuracy than the demons and the B-spline methods. Furthermore, the proposed methodology demonstrated the ability to create clinically acceptable temporal subtraction chest radiographs that enhance interval changes and can be used to detect abnormalities such as non-small cell lung cancer.

Shape memory alloys have become the most promising construction material for smart actuators in diverse applications. However, their highly nonlinear hysteresis behaviour sets the main barriers in precise motion control. This paper presents an adaptive MKP control scheme based on a feed-forward compensator using the inverse of the modified KP model and the selective parameter adaptation law, to realize dynamic hysteresis compensation for real-time applications. The performance of the proposed control scheme was evaluated experimentally. The results indicate that such an improved adaptive control scheme is characterized by the reduced computation, rapid parameter convergence and effective hysteresis linearization.

For the noise problem of moving target in noisy space, This work is dedicated to developing a novel and promising solution based on the moving target tracking technology and the active noise control (ANC) technology. The development process began with the simplified sound field interaction model, the “auto position tracking near head space ANC” strategy has been proposed from the modelling study. Furthermore, the primary experimental system that consists of the acoustic positioning and tracking subsystem for tracking the control point and the ANC subsystem for generating the anti-noise signal is presented, with the emphasis on the development of the improved TDC-FXLMS ANC algorithm. Finally, the performance of the auto-position tracking near head space ANC device is evaluated by carrying out the primary experiments on an experimental evaluation system.

ABSTRACTThe hyperpolarization-activated current (If) plays an important role in determining the spontaneous rate of cardiac pacemaker cells. The automatic rhythmicity also exists in working cells of embryonic heart, therefore we studied developmental changes in functional expression and β-adrenergic regulation of Ifin embryonic mouse heart. The expression of Ifis high in early developmental stage (EDS) (10.5 d after coitus) ventricular myocytes, low in intermediate developmental stage (IDS) (13.5 d) atrial or ventricular myocytes and even lower in late developmental stage (LDS) (16.5 d) atrial or ventricular myocytes, indicating that these cells of the EDS embryonic heart have some properties of pacemaker cells. β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (ISO) stimulates Ifin LDS but not in EDS cardiomyocytes, indicating that the b-adrenergic regulation of If is not mature in EDS embryonic heart. But forskolin (a direct activator of adenylate cyclase) and 8-Br-cAMP (a membrane-permeable analogue of cAMP) increase the amplitude of Ifin EDS cells, indicating that adenylate cyclase and cAMP function fairly well at early stage of development. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that Ifis modulated by phosphorylation via cAMP dependent PKA both in EDS and LDS cells.

ABSTRACTThe hyperpolarization-activated current (If) plays an important role in determining the spontaneous rate of cardiac pacemaker cells. The automatic rhythmicity also exists in working cells of embryonic heart, therefore we studied developmental changes in functional expression and β-adrenergic regulation of If in embryonic mouse heart. The expression of If is high in early developmental stage (EDS) (10.5 d after coitus) ventricular myocytes, low in intermediate developmental stage (IDS) (13.5 d) atrial or ventricular myocytes and even lower in late developmental stage (LDS) (16.5 d) atrial or ventricular myocytes, indicating that these cells of the EDS embryonic heart have some properties of pacemaker cells. β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (ISO) stimulates If in LDS but not in EDS cardiomyocytes, indicating that the b-adrenergic regulation of If is not mature in EDS embryonic heart. But forskolin (a direct activator of adenylate cyclase) and 8-Br-cAMP (a membrane-permeable analogue of cAMP) increase the amplitude of If in EDS cells, indicating that adenylate cyclase and cAMP function fairly well at early stage of development. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that If is modulated by phosphorylation via cAMP dependent PKA both in EDS and LDS cells.Cell Research (2002); 12, 385–394. doi 10.1038/sj.cr.7290140