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AIM: To observe the imaging features of color Doppler ultrasound (CDU) and computed tomography (CT) or computed tomography dacryocystography (CT-DCG) in different types of lacrimal sac space-occupying lesions (SOLs). METHODS: This retrospective case series study included 21 patients with lacrimal sac SOLs who underwent lacrimal sac surgery between January 2018 and March 2022. The imaging features of CDU and CT or CT-DCG in these patients were extracted from the examination cloud system. The images were observed and analyzed. RESULTS: The detection rate of lacrimal SOLs between CDU (21/21, 100%) and CT or CT-DCG (20/21, 95.2%) had no statistically significant difference (P=1.0). CDU could detect the blood flow signals in all SOLs except mucocele and mucopeptide concretion. Among them, polyps had characteristic imaging changes on CDU and CT-DCG. The mucoceles and mucopeptide concretions had characteristic imaging changes on CDU, which could provide more information for differential diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The morphology and internal blood flow signals of lacrimal sac SOLs can be observed using CDU. CT or CT-DCG has advantages in observing structural damage around the lacrimal sac mass. Therefore, CDU may be used as a routine examination to exclude lacrimal sac SOLs before dacryocystorhinostomy in the absence of preoperative CT or CT-DCG.

AIM: To evaluate the accuracy and predictability of ray tracing-assisted intraocular lens (IOL) calculation function in Sirius internal software and further improve the accuracy by optimizing the calculation of predicted lens position (PLP). METHODS: This retrospective study recruited 52 eyes of 49 patients. All of the cases with cataract had undergone phacoemulsi?cation combined with IOL implantation. SRK-T, Haigis formula, and Sirius ray-tracing method were all used for each eye's IOL calculation. The mean absolute value of prediction error (prediction error=predicted refraction- postoperative refraction) was defined as mean absolute prediction error (MAPE) and was determined for each method. Calculation of PLP was optimized by effective lens position (ELP). Optimized PLP was entered to Sirius internal software again to verify whether the method was improved. RESULTS: Compared with SRK-T and Haigis formulas, less accuracy was shown in Sirius ray-tracing method (P=0.001). The ELP of the IOL moved forward compared to PLP (P

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A large-scale experiment on coal spontaneous combustion (CSC) was conducted to investigate the experimental spontaneous combustion period (ESCP) and limit parameters. Coal samples were collected from the Wenjiapo coal mine in the Binchang mining area in Shaanxi Province, China. Specifically, the high-temperature point (HTP) migration of coal and the variations in the oxygen consumption rate, heat release intensity, lower limit oxygen concentration (LOC), maximum air leakage intensity (ALI), and minimum residual coal thickness (RCT) during CSC were investigated. The ESCP was discovered to be 35 days. During CSC, the HTP moved from the middle of the coal body to the bottom where air was supplied. Heat release intensity and oxygen consumption rate were directly proportional to coal temperature. Under the same conditions, minimum RCT increased with ALI, lower LOC decreased as RCT increased, and maximum ALI increased with RCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurobehavioral toxicity is one of important research fields in neuroscience, neuropharmacology and neuro-toxicology, which of growing importance for understanding the mechanisms of chemicals on nervous system and for evaluating the quality of ecosystem. Possessing well-developed central nervous system, fish is extremely sensitive to chemicals in the water environment, and the nervous system can produce a comprehensive and coordinated response to various stimuli, which resulted in complex, well-characterized behaviors, including its swimming behaviors and social behaviors. And fish behavior is now recognized as a complex, homologous to mammals, context specific, adaptive and highly variable. A variety of behavioral tests have been developed to assess motor function, stress response, social behavior and learning/memory in fish. And behavior of fish can be measured to determine the functional impact of chemicals. The elementary actions of a neurotoxicant can be followed in terms of disruptions of neural differentiation, proliferation, migration, outgrowth, synapse formation, and circuit development. Fish has been widely used as a tool to detect toxins in water samples and to investigate the mechanisms of action of environmental toxins and their related diseases in recent years. Fish offer many advantages that complement classic mammalian models for the study of normal development as well as for neurobehavioral effects of exposure to chemicals. Fish provide a key intermediate model of neurobehavioral toxicity between high throughput in vitro cell-based assays and the classic mammalian models as they have the accessibility of in vitro models and the complex functional capabilities of mammalian models. The present article reviews recent research progress on neurobehavioral toxicology studies using fish as a model, and we present and discuss the neurobehavioral toxicity of typical pollutants (microplastics and toxins absorbed to microplastics, organic pollutants, et al.) and drugs (alcohol, caffeine, benzodiazepines, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, et al.) on fish. And future research directions are proposed. The article is expected to provide a reference for researchers in neurobehavioral toxicity and its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal-based activated carbon (CBAC) is widely used in several industrial processes and daily life, however, it is susceptible to spontaneous combustion during storage and transportation. Therefore, it is essential to probe the spontaneous combustion risk of CBAC. The oxidation process of briquetting material sample (BM), carbonized material sample (CM), and activated material sample (AM) was studied via thermogravimetric (TG–DTG) analysis. The oxidation mechanism of the samples was investigated via the proximate and ultimate analyses, Fourier transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and nitrogen adsorption. Kinetic characteristics of the samples during the combustion were determined using the Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS) method. Five characteristic temperature points and the five stages of the samples during oxidation were obtained. With an increase in the heating rate, the hysteresis phenomenon was observed during thermal decomposition and combustion of AM in TG–DTG curves. The heating value of BM, CM, and AM were 6678, 6705, and 6776 cal g–1, respectively. AM has a developed pore structure that leads to enhanced oxygen adsorption and limited heat transfer, easy to induce spontaneous combustion. The main functional groups of AM were hydroxyl groups and aromatic hydrocarbons, especially hydroxyl groups that played a key role in the spontaneous combustion of AM. The apparent activation energy (Ea) during the combustion of BM, CM, and AM were 110.70, 85.90, and 111.80 kJ mol–1 from the KAS method, respectively. These results are expected to facilitate a better understanding of CBAC spontaneous combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal fires are widespread in the coal–major producing countries, which causes serious environmental issues due to the high temperature and hazardous gases during coal combustion. Under oxygen–depleted atmospheres, the thermal behaviors and kinetic characteristics during coal combustion at high temperatures were paid more attention by the method of TG–DSC synchronous thermal analysis. The results indicate that the focused weightlessness and heat release processes became scattered under oxygen–depleted atmospheres, and the influence of oxygen concentration obviously increased when it was below 13 vol.%. The mass presented a linear correlation to the quantity of heat release, and the relationship between the mass and quantity of heat release showed stage characteristics with oxygen concentration. Moreover, the kinetic modes transformed from random nucleation and subsequent growth to contractive sphere, and the critical oxygen concentrations are consistent to these of thermal behaviors. These findings are significant for better understanding the characteristics of coal spontaneous combustion at high-temperature and under low-oxygen concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effects of exogenous melatonin on the osmotic regulation and antioxidant capacity of 4-year-old Ginkgo biloba seedlings under salt stress. There were three treatments, with low (50 mmol·L -1 ), medium (100 mmol·L -1 ), and high (200 mmol·L -1 ) NaCl stress. Leaves were sprayed and the soil was watered with melatonin solution (0, 0.02, 0.1, 0.5 mmol·L -1 ). The results showed that saline stress significantly inhibited the osmoregulation and antioxidant capacities of G. biloba seedlings. Application of exogenous melatonin at appropriate concentrations (0.02, 0.1 mmol·L -1 ) under salt stress could promote plant growth, reduce the rate of electrolyte leakage, decrease the content of flavonoids and malonic dialdehyde, and enhance peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities in leaves. High concentration (0.5 mmol·L -1 ) of exogenous melatonin would aggravate the oxidative and osmotic stresses. The 0.02 and 0.1 mmol·L -1 exogenous melatonin alleviated osmotic stress and oxidative stress in G. biloba seedlings under salt stress, while the 0.02 mmol·L -1 exogenous melatonin treatment had the best effect on NaCl stress alleviation. Ground diameter, branch width, branch length, electrolyte leakage rate, superoxide dismutase activity, and flavonoids content could be used as the key indices for rapid identification of the degree of salt stress in G. biloba seedlings.