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To address the challenges of non-destructive testing of underwater concrete structures, an innovative underwater impact echo detection device is introduced and its performance is evaluated through experiments on indoor underwater concrete samples with defects. In the process of device development, this study compares electric excitation and pneumatic excitation and explores the applicability of the ICP accelerometer and the hydrophone in underwater impact echo concrete testing. According to the results, (1) the combination of electric excitation and ICP accelerometers enables the precise identification of defect areas, depths, and the sample's thickness; (2) electric excitation demonstrates superior signal stability and consistency over pneumatic excitation, while the latter potentially leads to signal distortion; (3) hydrophones can identify the defect areas, but provide insufficient precision for determining their depth. A scientific foundation and technical support are provided for underwater concrete defect detection, and a reference is offered for related engineering practice.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) treatment has entered an era of targeted therapies. Different targeted therapies take effect in various aspects of pathogenic mechanisms in MG. For a steady long-term control of MG symptoms, immunotherapies that reduce the production of pathogenic autoantibodies should be used. The glucocorticosteroid acts on multiple aspects of pathogenic mechanisms relevant to autoantibody production and regulation of the immune network, which renders glucocorticosteroid the basis of MG therapy. A definite therapeutic target has been established in MG. Glucocorticosteroid can be used alone or in combination with traditional immunosuppressants or targeted therapies at different stages of the treat - to - target process. Based on the evaluation of the beneficial characteristics of patients using the traditional glucocorticosteroid escalation strategy, the implementation of the glucocorticosteroid -based and treat-to-target-oriented individualized treatment helps to obtain better long-to-term efficacy.

Abstract Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a severe chronic interstitial lung disease with high mortality, and there is currently a lack of definite and effective treatment methods. Studies have found that gentiopicroside, a secoiridoid glycoside compound derived from plants of the Gentiana genus, can significantly improve pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis lesions in mice with pulmonary fibrosis. However, the mechanism of its anti-fibrotic effect is unclear. Therefore, in this study, we employed network pharmacology's virtual computer technology to investigate the potential mechanism underlying the anti-pulmonary fibrosis effect of Gentianae Radix et Rhizome (Longdan in Chinese, GRR). Our findings offer valuable theoretical insights and serve as a guiding reference for future experimental investigations. A total of 10 active compounds and 920 drug-target proteins were identified from the TCMSP database. The compound-target-pathway-disease network showed that GRR could potentially treat PF by regulating the MDM2, ERBB2 and VEGFA, signaling pathways through its key targets, including AKT1, TNF, and MAPK1. The protein‒protein interaction network revealed that these targets had strong interactions with each other, indicating a potential synergistic effect of GRR in treating PF. The GO and KEGG enrichment analyses further supported the potential anti-pulmonary fibrosis mechanisms of GRR, including regulating the inflammatory response, ECM-receptor interaction, and TGF-beta signaling pathways. Our study provides a systematic analysis of the potential anti-pulmonary fibrosis mechanisms of GRR based on network pharmacology. These findings could contribute to the development of novel treatments for PF and provide a basis for further experimental studies.

The presented case report describes an incredibly rare instance of an intramedullary bronchial cyst located in the thoracic spinal canal on the dorsal side of the spinal cord, which was observed in a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia. A 29-year-old man presented with back pain for half a month, along with numbness and pain below the chest and ribs for 1 week. Hypersensitivity was present in the inferior plane of the long xiphoid process in the nervous system. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed intramedullary cystic lesions in the vertebral body plane of the third to the fourth thoracic vertebra. There was no recurrence during the 6-month postoperative follow-up period. The histopathological findings were consistent with bronchogenic cysts. Cystic lesions were eliminated through the posterior median approach. After the cyst ruptured during surgery, gel liquid was seen, and the majority of the cyst walls were removed. One week after the surgery, the hypersensitivity fully subsided. Six months following surgery, an updated MRI revealed no recurrence. Intramedullary bronchogenic cysts on the dorsal side of the thoracic spine are extremely uncommon. Diagnosis requires histopathological evidence, and it is challenging to diagnose before surgery. Prompt surgical resection is recommended in case of positive diagnosis.

Objective: Egg yolk and egg white were added to wheat flour to provide data support for the processing and improvement of characteristic flour food. Methods: The present study aims to disclose the influence of egg yolk and white on the aggregation characteristics of gluten in wheat flour using a special gluten aggregation instrument, as well as second-grade wheat flour and eggs as materials. Moreover, the dough microstructure and starch particle size during the aggregation process were also analyzed. Results: The results showed that BEM dropped 9.5 BU （i.e., 19.39%） with 5 mL egg yolk added. However, the BEM increased by 4.08% to the peak with the addition of 3 mL egg white, indicating that egg white is helpful to the maintenance of BEM. The supplement of 2 mL egg yolk or 1 mL egg white resulted in the 18.56% decrease （to the min. value） or the 29.52% increase （to the max. value） of PMT, which suggested that yolk and white may exert the opposite effect on PMT. Interestingly, with the addition of yolk and white, the ratios of S3/total energy scaled up from 81% and 43% to 96% and 52%, respectively. Such a fact indicated that both yolk and white from egg significantly change the distribution of gluten aggregation energy. Conclusion: Taken together, yolk and white have varied roles in regulating gluten aggregation properties. To be noted, egg yolk inhibited the linking strength of the gluten network, giving rise to its breakage and a more even distribution; while egg white promoted such connection, and protected the starch particles. Our data will technically support the improvement of quality for flour-associated food.

The synthesis conditions of the 11C-Raclopride with domestic PET-CM-3H-IT-I synthesis module and 11C-Triflate-CH-3I as methylation agent were studied, which included the alkali equivalent, solvents, temperature, the amount of precursor and elution conditions for the product. The optimum condition was 1.5-3.0 g/L of precursor in acetone (0.2 mL), alkali equivalent (0.30-1.25 eq) and at room temperature (25 ℃) for synthesis of 11C-Raclopride. It could be got with radiochemical yield of (64.82±4.74)% (n=46, EOB of 11C-Triflate-CH3). The radiochemical purity was over 97% and the specific activity was at (423.61±13.43) GBq/g. It took 23 minutes from 11C-CO2 to 11C-Raclopride, and the production radioactivity was (6.9±0.87) GBq (n=46). The synthetic process was reliable and reproducible, and the product synthesized by this process was suitable for clinical use.

The traditional method of speakers segmentation based on Bayesian information criterion（BIC） was improved.New speakers segmentation method adopted a pre-segmentation process to decrease calculation spending.Theory analy-sis and experiments show that the method of speakers segmentation based on pre-segmentation makes the amount of cal-culation controlled,on the premise of realizing the basic segmentation performance.

Objective: Aimed to investigate the effectiveness of body acupuncture on motor function of the upper limb in children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) conjunction with rehabilitation program. Design: The study is a randomized controlled experimental trial. Children with CP were randomly divided into the acupuncture group (body acupuncture with rehabilitation) and the rehabilitation group. The muscle volume difference between the upper limbs, the fine motor scores of the Peabody developmental motor scale-2 (PDMS-FM) and the surface electromyography (SEMG) parameter-root mean square (RMS)-on upper limb muscles (biceps brachii, radial wrist extensors and pronator teres) of both groups were measured before and after a 12-week treatment. Results: 37 children completed the study. In the two groups, differences in muscle volume, PDMS-FM scores and RMS values (biceps brachii, radial wrist extensors and pronator teres) were significantly improved, except PDMS-FM score difference and difference of RMS values (biceps brachii, radial wrist extensors and pronator teres) between the upper limbs in the rehabilitation group. Comparison post-treatment/pre-treatment change for two groups showed significant difference in affected upper limb PDMS-FM total score, PDMS-FM score difference between the upper limbs, affected upper limb RMS values and RMS value difference between the upper limbs in favor of the acupuncture group. Conclusion: Our preliminary research indicates that body acupuncture therapy combined with rehabilitation may be more effective than rehabilitation alone, further improving muscle strength of affected upper limb and possibility of bimanual coordination in children with spastic hemiplegic CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astragalus, a group of legume plants, has a pronounced rhizosphere effect. Many species of Astragalus with limited resource reserves are distributed in the high-altitude area of northern Yunnan, China. Although some of these plants have high medicinal value, the recognition of them is still at a low level. The aim of this research is to explore the species diversity of cultivable rhizofungi derived from Astragalus acaulis, A. forrestii and A. ernestii growing in a special high–cold environment of northwest Yunnan and discover anti-infective components from these fungi. A total of 93 fungal strains belonging to 38 species in 18 genera were isolated and identified. Antibacterial and antimalarial screening yielded 10 target strains. Among them, the ethyl acetate crude extract of the fermented substrate of the rhizofungus Aspergillus calidoustus AA12 derived from the plant A. acaulis showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and the best antimalarial activity. Further chemical investigation led to the first discovery of seven compounds from the species A. calidoustus, including sesterterpine 6-epi-ophiobolin G; three sesquiterpenes, penicisochroman A, pergillin and 7-methyl-2-(1-methylethylethlidene)-furo [3,2-H]isoquinoline-3-one; and three polyketides, trypacidin, 1,2-seco-trypacidin and questin. Among them, the compound 6-epi-ophiobolin G exhibited moderate to strong antibacterial activity against six Gram-positive pathogens with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 25 to 6.25 μg/mL and a prominent inhibitory effect on the biofilm of Streptococcus agalactiae at an MIC value of 3.125 μg/mL. This compound also displayed potent antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum strains 3D7 and chloroquine-resistant Dd2 at the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 3.319 and 4.340 µmol/L at 72 h, respectively. This study contributed to our understanding of the cultivable rhizofungi from characteristic Astragalus plants in special high–cold environments and further increased the library of fungi available for natural anti-infectious product screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pursuit of high‐power factor and low lattice thermal conductivity simultaneously in thermoelectric research is longstanding. Herein, great success has been achieved in SnTe‐based materials by employing a proposed strategy of entropy engineering involving vacancies, thus leveraging the promising cocktail effect. Significant band convergence and flatness effects have given rise to exceptionally high density of state carrier effective mass and Seebeck coefficients. These effects have also led to the theoretical optimal carrier concentration closely aligning with the actual carrier concentration. Furthermore, the entropy engineering involving vacancies has induced pronounced lattice disorder and a wealth of nanostructures, facilitating multi‐scale phonon scattering. Consequently, impressive thermoelectric performance is realized in AgSb3Pb2Ge2Sn6Te15: room‐temperature ZT of ≈0.4, peak ZT of ≈1.3 at 623 K, and average ZT of ≈1.0 (300–773 K). A thermoelectric module, comprising this p‐type material and the homemade n‐type PbTe, is assembled, demonstrating a competitive conversion efficiency of 9.3% at a temperature difference of 478 K. This work not only provides valuable insights into the modulation of electron/phonon transports but also establishes an effective paradigm of entropy engineering involving vacancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]