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Aims The risk of hemoglobin decline induced by low‐dose aspirin in glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency remains unknown, and its influence on stroke outcome remains to be investigated. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of G6PD deficiency on hemoglobin level during aspirin treatment and its association with outcome after acute ischemic stroke. Methods In total, 279 patients (40 G6PD‐deficient and 239 G6PD‐normal) with acute ischemic stroke treated with aspirin 100 mg/day from a cohort study were examined. The primary safety endpoint was a hemoglobin decline ≥25 g/L or 25% from baseline within 14 days after aspirin treatment. Poor outcomes were defined as a modified Rankin Scale score ≥2 at 3 months. The χ 2 test was used to compare stroke outcomes, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to analyze the association between hemoglobin level and outcomes. Results The G6PD‐deficient group had lower baseline hemoglobin and tended to develop comorbid pulmonary infection more frequently (p, Hemoglobin decrease with bilirubin increase after aspirin treatment in patients with G6PD deficiency suggests hemolysis, which may influence stroke prognosis. The risk of hemoglobin decline should be carefully monitored in G6PD‐deficient stroke patients taking aspirin.

Background There is a paucity of epidemiological data regarding pesticide intoxication-associated acute kidney injury (AKI). Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the epidemiological features, risk factors, and adverse outcomes of AKI in this population. Methods The data used in this multi-center, hospitalized population-based, retrospective study were retrieved from electronic medical records. AKI was defined as an acute increase in serum creatinine according to the criteria of Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes. The Charlson Comorbidity Index was used to evaluate the burden of in-hospital mortality. Results Of 3,371 adult patients in 11 hospitals, 398 (11.8%) were diagnosed with AKI (grade 1, 218 [6.5%]; grade 2, 89 [2.6%]; grade 3, 91 [2.7%]). Herbicide intoxication was associated with the highest incidence of AKI (53.5%) and higher grades of AKI. After multivariable adjustment, pesticide categories and moderate or severe renal disease were independently associated with AKI. As compared with the referred category, insecticide and herbicide intoxications were associated with a 1.3-fold (95% CI 1.688–3.245) and 3.8-fold (95% CI 3.537–6.586) greater risk of AKI. Regardless of the pesticide category, AKI was independently associated with in-hospital mortality, with odds ratios of 3.433 (95% CI 1.436–8.203) for insecticides, 2.153 (95% CI 1.377–3.367) for herbicides, and 4.524 (95% CI 1.230–16.632) for unclassified or other pesticides. Conclusion AKI is common in pesticide intoxication and associated with an increased in-hospital mortality. Herbicides pose the greatest risks of AKI and death.

ObjectiveTo assess the risk of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) on stroke prognosis, we compared outcomes between patients with stroke with and without G6PD deficiency.MethodsThe study recruited 1,251 patients with acute ischemic stroke. Patients were individually categorized into G6PD-deficiency and non-G6PD-deficiency groups according to G6PD activity upon admission. The primary endpoint was poor outcome at 3 months defined by a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score ≥2 (including disability and death). Secondary outcomes included the overall mRS score at 3 months and in-hospital death and all death within 3 months. Logistic regression and Cox models, adjusted for potential confounders, were fitted to estimate the association of G6PD deficiency with the outcomes.ResultsAmong 1,251 patients, 150 (12.0%) were G6PD-deficient. Patients with G6PD deficiency had higher proportions of large-artery atherosclerosis (odds ratio [OR] 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09–2.17) and stroke history (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.26–2.90) compared to the non-G6PD-deficient group. The 2 groups differed significantly in the overall mRS score distribution (adjusted common OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.14–2.17). Patients with G6PD deficiency had higher rates of poor outcome at 3 months (adjusted OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.08–2.76; adjusted absolute risk increase 13.0%, 95% CI 2.4%–23.6%). The hazard ratio of in-hospital death for patients with G6PD-deficiency was 1.46 (95% CI 1.37–1.84).ConclusionsG6PD deficiency is associated with the risk of poor outcome at 3 months after ischemic stroke and may increase the risk of in-hospital death. These findings suggest the rationality of G6PD screening in patients with stroke.

AimStroke is characterised by high morbidity, mortality and disability, which seriously affects the health and safety of the people. Stroke has become a serious public health problem in China. Organisational stroke management can significantly reduce the mortality and disability rates of patients with stroke. We provide this evidence-based guideline to present current and comprehensive recommendations for organisational stroke management.MethodsA formal literature search of MEDLINE (1 January 1997 through 30 September 2019) was performed. Data were synthesised with the use of evidence tables. Writing group members met by teleconference to discuss data-derived recommendations. The Chinese Stroke Association’s Levels of Evidence grading algorithm was used to grade each recommendation.ResultsEvidence-based guidelines are presented for the organisational management of patients presenting with stroke. The focus of the guideline was subdivided into prehospital first aid system of stroke, rapid diagnosis and treatment of emergency in stroke centre, organisational management of stroke unit and stroke clinic, construction of regional collaborative network among stroke centres and evaluation and continuous improvement of stroke medical quality.ConclusionsThe guidelines offer an organisational stroke management model for patients with stroke which might help dramatically.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) can work as excellent saturable absorber (SA) due to its advantages of fast recovery, low saturation intensity, polarization insensitivity, deep modulation depth, broad operation bandwidth, outstanding environmental stability, and affordable fabrication. Its successful application as SA has promoted the development of scientific research and practical application of mode-locked fiber lasers. Besides, mode-locked fiber laser constitutes an ideal platform for investigating soliton dynamics which exhibit profound nonlinear optical dynamics and excitation ubiquitous in many fields. Up to now, a variety of soliton dynamics have been observed. Among these researches, CNT-SA is a key component that suppresses the environmental perturbation and optimizes the laser system to reveal the true highly stochastic and non-repetitive unstable phenomena of the initial self-starting lasing process. This review is intended to provide an up-to-date introduction to the development of CNT-SA based ultrafast fiber lasers, with emphasis on recent progress in real-time buildup dynamics of solitons in CNT-SA mode-locked fiber lasers. It is anticipated that study of dynamics of solitons can not only further reveal the physical nature of solitons, but also optimize the performance of ultrafast fiber lasers and eventually expand their applications in different fields.

As a direct thin band gap n-type semiconductor, bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanomaterials possess great near-infrared (NIR)-triggered photothermal effects, photoacoustic (PA) and computed tomography (CT) imaging properties. Hence, Bi2S3 nanomaterials have become a research focal point in multiple domains, such as the construction of NIR-triggered nanosystems for cancer therapy. In this study, through a simple one-pot synthesis with the assistance of EDTA-2Na, we first obtained monodispersed spherical Bi2S3 of uniform particle sizes with fascinating photothermal and PA/CT imaging properties. Based on this, we introduced the photosensitizer Ce6 with photodynamic property and CeO2 with the O2-evolving characteristic, and thus designed a core-shell structure of the Bi2S3@Ce6-CeO2 nanocomposites (Bi2S3@Ce6-CeO2 NCs). The as-received Bi2S3@Ce6-CeO2 NCs exhibited a remarkable synergetic photothermal and photodynamic therapeutic effect both in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating its promising potential for cancer treatments. In the long term, the multifunctional PA/CT properties of both Bi2S3 NPs and Bi2S3@Ce6-CeO2 NCs in this study also supply a novel Bi2S3-based platform for constructing integrated diagnosis and treatment platforms.

Solar and wind energy pose a challenge to direct power grid acceptance due to their randomness, intermittency and fluctuation, whereas hydropower with rapid response, good adjustability and stable output has become the most preferred option for complementary energy. In this study, a novel approach to optimal sizing of large-scale hydro-photovoltaic (PV) hybrid systems considering electricity delivery demand and reservoir characteristics has been proposed. We establish a multi-objective mathematical model that minimizes the difference between the daily output process of the hydro-PV hybrid system and the setting-up characteristic load process while maximizing the daily power generation of the hydro-PV hybrid system. The proposed method was applied to a multi-energy complementary base in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Qinghai Province, China. The results show that the optimal PV capacity for a hydro-PV hybrid system and the complementary guarantee rate are closely related to electricity delivery demand and reservoir characteristics. It was observed that at the complementary guarantee rate of 0.7, the optimal PV capacities of the Yangqu-PV hybrid system were 402 and 425 MW under three- and five-segment line modes, respectively, with the corresponding optimal PV capacities of the Banduo-PV hybrid system at 129 and 154 MW under three- and five-segment line modes, respectively. Additionally, the Yangqu-PV hybrid system meets bimodal and unimodal load shaving well; however, the Banduo-PV hybrid system only satisfies unimodal load shaving well. Finally, simulation results indicate that upstream reservoir regulation, hydropower expansion and regulated storage capacity expansion benefit the complementarity between hydro and PV. The highlighted results verify the feasibility of the proposed method. Therefore, the proposed method provides technical support and reference for planning and constructing PV power plants and can be used to implement other hybrid systems in the future.

Aim This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the association between fasting plasma glucose (FPG) variability levels and the risk of retinopathy and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods PubMed and EMBASE were searched to identify studies that evaluated the association between FPG variability and retinopathy and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled with the random-effects model. Results Eight studies were included in our meta-analysis. Five studies evaluated the impact of FPG variability on all-cause mortality and showed that high FPG variability was associated with the risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.12–1.46; three studies). For median or mean FPG variability levels under 20%, the relationship between all-cause mortality and FPG variability was not significant. Three studies evaluated FPG variability and the risk of diabetic retinopathy and showed that high FPG variability was strongly associated with the risk of retinopathy (odds ratio (OR) = 3.68; 95% CI 1.01–13.4). Conclusion High FPG variability levels were positively associated with the risk of retinopathy and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Aiming at the existing spectrum detection technology, under the condition of low SNR, especially under the background of non-Gaussian noise, the detection performance is low and the detection time is long. This paper fully combines the advantages of energy detection and sequential detection. According to the characteristics of non-Gaussian noise, a new method of spectrum sensing with low SNR under Laplace noise is proposed. For the proposed method, we first divide the received signal equidistantly in the background of Laplace noise, and then use the sequential detection method to achieve a predetermined good detection probability. The simulation results verify the correctness of our theoretical derivation and show that the proposed scheme is correct. Compared with energy detection under Laplacian noise, this method has the advantages of short detection time, small sample size, small influence of noise uncertainty, and good performance under low SNR. In addition, the proposed method can effectively counter the influence of fading channels on detection performance.

To investigate the safety and efficacy of intensive statin in the acute phase of ischemic stroke after intravenous thrombolysis therapy. A total of 310 stroke patients treated with rt-PA were randomly scheduled into the intensive statin group (rosuvastatin 20 mg daily × 14 days) and the control group (rosuvastatin 5 mg daily × 14 days). The primary clinical endpoint was excellent functional outcome (mRS ≤ 1) at 3 months, and the primary safety endpoint was symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) in 90 days. The intensive statin users did not achieve a favorable outcome in excellent functional outcome (mRS ≤ 1) at 3 months compared with controls (70.3% vs. 66.5%, p = 0.464). Intensive statin also not significantly improved the overall distribution of scores on the modified Rankin scale, as compared with controls (p = 0.82 by the Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test). The incidence of primary safety endpoint events (sICH) in 90 days did not significantly differ between the intensive statin group and control group (0.6% vs. 1.3%, p > 0.999). The INSPIRE study indicated that intensive statin therapy may not improve clinical outcomes compared with the low dose of statin therapy in AIS patients undergoing intravenous thrombolysis, and the two groups had similar safety profile. URL: http://www.chictr.org . Unique identifier: ChiCTR-IPR-16008642

Background and purpose Aspirin is the first recommended antiplatelet agent to prevention secondary stroke, but its safety and efficacy in stroke patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency remain unclear. We sought to evaluate its safety and efficacy in ischemic stroke patients with and without glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. Methods Patients with ischemic stroke receiving aspirin (100 mg/day) for three months were recruited for a multicenter, prospective, cohort study. Blood glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was examined after stroke. Safety outcomes including acute hemolysis, moderate-to-severe bleeding, and death (vascular, all-cause), and efficacy outcome indicated as stroke recurrence were evaluated at three months. Risk factors associated with moderate-to-severe bleeding and all-cause death were determined using multivariate or Cox regression analysis. Results Among the included 1121 patients, 81 of 130 glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient and 576 of 991 glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase normal patients received aspirin for three months. Acute hemolysis was observed in one of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient and in none of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase normal patients ( p = 0.876). The rates of moderate-to-severe bleeding were 2.5% and 0.3% ( p = 0.045), and the percentages of all-cause death were 6.2% and 1.4% ( p = 0.008) in the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase normal patients. Stroke recurrence rate was similar in the two groups (2.5% vs. 1.7%; p = 0.608). Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was significantly associated with increased risk of moderate-to-severe bleeding (adjust p = 0.048) and all-cause death during aspirin use (adjust p = 0.008). Conclusions Long-term low-dose aspirin therapy might relate to worse safety outcomes in patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and large clinical trials are needed to further confirm these findings.

Optoacoustic interaction can be strongly enhanced in tiny core fibers, and it holds significant potential for stable harmonic mode-locking at gigahertz (GHz) and higher repetition rate. In this Letter, we propose and demonstrate a microfiber-assisted GHz harmonic mode-locking fiber laser, which is achieved by the enhanced optomechanical coupling between cavity modes in microfiber with the waist length of ∼ 16 c m and the waist diameter of ∼ 1.56 µ m . The repetition rates can be stably locked at 2.3828 GHz and predominately locked at 1.7852 GHz, corresponding to the frequencies of radial R 01 and torsional-radial T R 21 acoustic modes, respectively. Our results provide novel insight into the design of a high-repetition-rate laser source and the application of microfibers in the optomechanical field.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, The study was aimed to evaluate the image quality and radiation dose during female chest computed tomography (CT) screening using organ-based tube current modulation technology X-ray combined applications to reduce exposure (XCARE). Five hundred sixty female individuals undergoing chest CT scan were prospectively enrolled and divided into 4 groups based on body mass index (BMI). Then they were randomly and equally divided into control and experimental subgroup and respectively accepted conventional low-dose and XCARE technology spiral CT scan with same parameters. Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio were calculated. The quality of the images was evaluated by 2 radiologists using a 5-point scale. Among experimental subgroups of the 4 BMI groups, Signal-to-noise ratios, CT dose index of volume, dose-length product, effective dose, and contrast-to-noise ratio all displayed significant differences, as well as in control subgroups (P .05), while BMI was significantly associated with increased CT dose index of volume (P

The majority of breast cancers express the estrogen receptor (ERα) and agents targeting this pathway represent the main treatment modality. Endocrine therapy has proven successful in the treatment of hormone-responsive breast cancer since its early adoption in the 1940s as an ablative therapy. Unfortunately, therapeutic resistance arises, leading to disease recurrence and relapse. Recent studies increased our understanding in how changes to the chromatin landscape and deregulation of epigenetic factors orchestrate the resistant phenotype. Here, we will discuss how the epigenome is an integral determinant in hormone therapy response and why epigenetic factors are promising targets for overcoming clinical resistance., Endocrine therapy has been the mainstay for hormone responsive breast cancer treatment. Here, Garcia-Martinez and colleagues discuss epigenetic mechanisms regulating ER + breast cancer and endocrine therapy resistance, and highlight approaches to rewire the cancer epigenome to improve targeted therapies for this cancer.

Whether the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) are significantly different is still unknown. The purpose of this study is to compare the differences in CSF total tau, P-tau and Aβ42 in patients with amyloid-positive positron emission tomography (PET) and amyloid-negative PET, and to explore related risk factors in cognitive normal (CN), early MCI (EMCI), late MCI (LMCI) and AD. 558 participants (140 CN; 233 EMCI; 125 LMCI; 60 AD) were recruited in this study from the AD Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. The associations between CSF biomarkers were assessed by partial correlation analysis. The relations between significant variables were determined by multinomial logistic regression. Compared with amyloid-positive PET patients, patients with amyloid-negative PET had higher CSF Aβ42 and lower P-tau in the whole samples. The concentration of Aβ42 in the positive amyloid PET was significantly different in different groups, but not the negative amyloid PET (CN vs. LMCI; CN vs. AD; EMCI vs. AD, all P0.05). When amyloid PET was positive, a weak correlation was found between the levels of Aβ42 and P-tau only in CN group. However, a moderate degree of correlation between Aβ42 and P-tau was found in EMCI and LMCI when amyloid PET was negative. After covariates adjustment, CSF Aβ42 was significantly associated with EMCI [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.99, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.99-1.00, P = 0.02) and LMCI (adjusted OR = 0.99, 95 % CI = 0.99-1.00, P = 0.007)] in patients with negative amyloid PET, not in patients with positive amyloid PET. Our findings highlight that Aβ42 had strong correlations with other biomarkers and might help reduce risk of EMCI or LMCI in patients with amyloid negativity.

Background The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) can be automatically calculated from the International Classification of Disease (ICD) code. However, the feasibility of this transformation has not been acknowledged, particularly in hospitals without a qualified ICD coding system. Here, we investigated the utility of coding-based CCI in China. Methods A multi-center, population-based, retrospective observational study was conducted, using a dataset incorporating 2,464,395 adult subjects from 15 hospitals. CCI was calculated using both ICD-10-based and diagnosis-based method, according to the transformation rule reported previously and to the literal description from discharge diagnosis, respectively. A κ coefficient of variation was used as a measure of agreement between the above two methods for each hospital. The discriminative abilities of the two methods were compared using the receiver-of-operating characteristic curve (ROC) for prediction of in-hospital mortality. Results Total agreement between the ICD-based and diagnosis-based CCI for each index ranged from 86.1 to 100%, with κ coefficients from 0.210 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.208–0.212] to 0.932 (95% CI 0.924–0.940). None of the 19 indices of CCI had a κ coefficient > 0.75 in all the hospitals included for study. The area under the curve of ROC for in-hospital mortality of all 15 hospitals was significantly lower for ICD-based than diagnosis-based CCI [0.735 (0.732, 0.739) vs 0.760 (0.757, 0.764)], indicative of more limited discriminative ability of the ICD-based calculation. Conclusions CCI calculated using ICD-10 coding did not agree with diagnosis-based CCI. ICD-based CCI displayed diminished discrimination performance in terms of in-hospital mortality, indicating that this method is not promising for CCI scoring in China under the present circumstances.

Stroke ranks as the second leading cause of disability and death globally. Trigger receptors expressed on myeloid cells (TREM) −1 are responsible for the activation of the innate immune response and also play a critical role in inflammation. In this study, we reported the contribution of TREM-1 after ischemic damage in a rat middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model. This study also demonstrated that TREM-1 expression was upregulated following cerebral infarction in rats. TREM-1 inhibition was determined using its selective inhibitor, LP17, which indicated a neuroprotective effect on cerebral infarction damage. The findings revealed that inhibition of TREM-1 by administering LP17 improved cerebral damage and decreased ischemic areas and brain water contents. Moreover, LP17 decreased MCAO-induced microglial activation and neurodegeneration, evidenced by a reduction in the expression of microglial Iba-1 and FJ-B positive cells, and reversed neuronal loss. Besides, the contribution of LP17 to ischemic neuronal damage may be associated with a decrease in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and enhanced production of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Both in vivo and in vitro studies showed that inhibiting TREM-1 attenuated ROS accumulation, lipid per-oxidation (LPO) contents such as malondialdehyde (MDA) and enhanced the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity after ischemia. Inhibiting TREM-1 alleviated inflammation and pyroptosis found in MCAO rats. This was achieved through the inhibition of the levels of NLRP3, caspase-1, ASC (an apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD) and gasdermin D. These results confirmed that inhibiting TREM-1 protects against ischemia-induced neuronal damage and alleviates microglial mediated neuro-inflammation by reducing oxidative stress and pyroptosis. Therefore, blocking TREM-1 expression provides an effective intervention for improving ischemic stroke.

Ischemic cerebral infarction represents a significant cause of disability and death worldwide. Caspase-1 is activated by the NLRP3/ASC pathway and inflammasomes, thus triggering pyroptosis, a programmed cell death. In particular, this death is mediated by gasdermin D (GSDMD), which induces secretion of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18. Accordingly, inhibition of caspase-1 prevents the development and worsening of multiple neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is not clear whether inhibition of caspase-1 can preserve blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity following cerebral infarction. This study therefore aimed at understanding the effect of caspase-1 on BBB dysfunction and its underlying mechanisms in permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Our findings in rat models revealed that expression of caspase-1 was upregulated following MCAO-induced injury in rats. Consequently, pharmacologic inhibition of caspase-1 using vx-765 ameliorated ischemia-induced infarction, neurological deficits, and neuronal injury. Furthermore, inhibition of caspase-1 enhanced the encapsulation rate of pericytes at the ischemic edge, decreased leakage of both Evans Blue (EB) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) proteins, and upregulated the levels of tight junctions (TJs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) in MCAO-injured rats. This in turn improved the permeability of the BBB. Meanwhile, vx-765 blocked the activation of ischemia-induced pyroptosis and reduced the expression level of inflammatory factors such as caspase-1, NLRP3, ASC, GSDMD, IL-1β, and IL-18. Similarly, vx-765 treatment significantly reduced the expression levels of inflammation-related receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), high-mobility family box 1 (HMGB1), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). Evidently, inhibition of caspase-1 significantly improves ischemia-associated BBB permeability and integrity by suppressing pyroptosis activation and the RAGE/MAPK pathway.

A novel organized multipulse pattern and its birth dynamics under strong optomechanical effect in microfiber-assisted ultrafast fiber laser are investigated in this work. The background pulses are observed to obviously exhibit selectively amplifying self-organized process of evolving into quasi-stable equidistant clusters. The radio frequency spectrum of the multipulse pattern displays a harmonic mode-locking-like behavior with a repetition rate of 2.0138 GHz, corresponding to the frequency of torsional-radial (TR2m) acoustic mode in microfiber. The results show the evidence of optomechanical effect in dominating the birth dynamics and pattern of multipulse.

In the past several decades, multiple clinical trials have demonstrated the effects of dyslipidemia beyond low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) on predicting risk for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. In recent years there has been a proliferation of lipoprotein markers that, when used with LDL-C, help healthcare providers assess risk of patients on the basis of the cardiovascular risk spectrum. In this review, we will discuss some of the important reasons why traditional lipoprotein testing has failed in high risk populations and how unique lipoprotein testing by the Vertical Auto Profile (VAP) Lipid panel is to provide significant clarity to a difficult disease for its management and treatment. We will also discuss some of the new trials that address newer markers of risk that have robust outcomes even after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. Keywords: Vertical auto profile (VAP), Lipoprotein (a), Remnant lipoproteins, Low density lipoprotein, Dense LDL

The most effective medical treatment for acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) is to offer intravenous thrombolysis during the ultra-early period of time after the onset. Even based on the Consensus of Chinese Experts on Intravenous Thrombolysis for AIS in 2012 and 2014 Chinese Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Treatment of AIS, the rate of thrombolysis for AIS in China remained around 2.4%, and the rate of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator usage was only about 1.6% in real world. The indication of thrombolysis for AIS has been expanded, and contraindications have been reduced with recently published studies. In order to facilitate the standardisation of treating AIS, improve the rate of thrombolysis and benefit patients who had a stroke, Chinese Stroke Association has organised and developed this scientific statement.

We experimentally demonstrate the fabrication and optical measurement of a novel terahertz antenna array due to the excitation of spoof surface plasmon modes. With the unit cell composed of ultrathin copper film corrugated with three rectangular grooves, the designed plasmonic antenna array fabricated on the quartz substrate clearly shows multiple plasmonic resonances, including the regular broadband dipolar-like and sharp Fano resonances. Terahertz time-domain measurements were performed and the transmission spectrum shows quite good agreement with full wave numerical simulations. These results provide direct evidence for the validity of the novel antenna design, which is expected to exhibit huge local field enhancement suggesting highly potential applications in terahertz sensing and detections.

Western China has good conditions for constructing large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power stations, however, such power plants with large fluctuations and strong randomness suffer from the long-distance power transmission problem, which needs to be solved. For large-scale PV power stations that do not have the conditions for simultaneous hydropower and PV power, this study examined long-distance delivery mode and energy storage optimization. The objective was to realize the long-distance transmission of electrical energy and maximize the economic value of the energy storage and PV power storage. For a large-scale PV power station, the energy storage optimization was modelled under a given long-distance delivery mode, and the economic evaluation system quantified using the net present value (NPV) of the battery was based on the energy dispatch optimization model. By contrast, a lithium battery performance model was developed. Therefore, further analysis of the economics of the energy storage and obtaining the best capacity of the energy storage battery and corresponding replacement cycle considered battery degradation. The case study of Qinghai Gonghe 100 MWp demonstration base PV power station showed that the optimal energy storage capacity was 5 MWh, and the optimal replacement period was 2 years. Therefore, the annual abandoned electricity was reduced by 3.051 &times, 10 4 MWh compared with no energy storage. The utilization rate of both the PV power station and quality of the delivered electricity were modelled to realize a long-distance transmission to the grid net. This will have an important guiding significance to develop and construct large-scale single PV power stations.

Glycemic control plays an important role in diabetes management, and self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is critical to achieving good glycemic control. However, there are few studies about the relationship between SMBG-estimated glycemic indices and β-cell function. Here we investigated the association between glucose variation indices estimated by SMBG and β-cell function among Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).In this cross‑sectional study, 397 patients with T2DM were recruited from February 2015 to October 2016. β-cell function was monitored using the Homeostasis Model Assessment 2 (HOMA2)-%β index. The parameters evaluated by SMBG were the mean blood glucose (MBG), standard deviation of MBG (SDBG), largest amplitude of glycemic excursions (LAGE), and postprandial glucose excursion (PPGE).HOMA2-%β was negatively correlated with SDBG, LAGE, PPGE, and MBG (r = -0.350, -0.346, -0.178, and -0.631, respectively; all p 0.01). After adjusting for confounding characteristics (diabetic duration, triglyceride, total cholesterol, fasting C-peptide, HOMA2-insulin resistance index, hypoglycemia, and diabetic treatments) and glycated hemoglobin A1c on a continuous scale, odds ratios of SDBG, LAGE, PPGE, and MBG between the patients in the lowest and highest HOMA2-%β quartiles were 2.02 (1.14-3.57), 1.24 (1.04-1.49), 1.13 (0.86-1.51), and 2.26 (1.70-3.00). HOMA2-%β was independently associated with SDBG, LAGE, and MBG.Increased SDBG and LAGE assessed by SMBG are associated with β-cell dysfunction in Chinese patients with T2DM.

Background: Numerous studies showed that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene polymorphisms were linked with the regularity of stroke, but the results remained controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine the associations between VEGF gene polymorphisms and the risk of stroke. Methods: A systematic literature search of PubMed, Embase, Wed of Science, The Cochrane Library, Elsevier, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine disc, WanFang Data, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, and Science paper Online was conducted. Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the strength of associations. Begger funnel plot and Egger test were used to estimate the publication bias of included studies. Heterogeneity assumption was assessed by Cochran Chi-squared-based Q-statistic test and I2 test. Results: Thirteen publications including 23 trails with a total of 3794 stroke patients and 3094 control subjects were enrolled. About 3747 cases and 2868 controls for +936C/T, 2134 cases and 1424 controls for −2578C/A, and 2187 cases and 1650 controls for −1154G/A were examined, respectively. The results indicated that VEGF +936C/T (T vs C, OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.01–1.40) or −2578C/A (A vs C, OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.02–1.27) was positively associated with the risk of stroke, whereas there was no association between −1154G/A (A vs G, OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.87–1.11) polymorphism and stroke risk in our study. Among the subgroup analyses on ethnicity, the results showed that VEGF +936C/T was an increased risk of stroke in Asian population (T vs C, OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.01–1.44), but not −1154G/A. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that VEGF +936C/T and −2578C/A might be related to the risk of stroke, especially in the Asian population, but not −1154G/A.

Formulating an optimal operation strategy is a real challenge in the actual operation stage of a hybrid system. This study presented a research framework for determining the short-term optimal operation strategy for cascade hydro-photovoltaic hybrid system. First, a method was presented for describing the cascade hydro-photovoltaic hybrid system net load utilizing the daily average net load and fluctuation coefficient. Second, a model was established for the short-term optimal operation of the cascade hydro-photovoltaic hybrid system. Then, a synchronous peak-shaving strategy of cascade hydropower stations was proposed based on the fluctuation coefficient. Finally, the framework was applied to a case study in the Qinghai Province, China. The results showed an obvious competitive relationship between the two objectives. In the hybrid system, the peak-shaving task is mainly carried out by a daily regulation hydropower station, while its base-load task is jointly carried out by runoff and daily regulation hydropower stations. When the average daily runoff is less than 30% of the hydropower rated flow, the cascade hydro-photovoltaic hybrid system should bear single-peak load on sunny, cloudy, and dusty days, otherwise, it should bear double-peak load. It should bear double-peak load under different daily average runoffs on rainy and snowy days. After the cascade hydropower relative position was interchanged, the cascade hydropower overall peak-shaving capability decreased. Thus, the above results prove the feasibility of the research framework, and it provides a reference for the short-term operation of cascade hydro-photovoltaic hybrid system.

We present four designs of tunable split-disk metamaterial (SDM) absorbers. They consist of a bottom gold (Au) mirror layer anchored on Si substrate and a suspended-top SDM nanostructure with one, two, three, and four splits named SDM-1, SDM-2, SDM-3, and SDM-4, respectively. By tailoring the geometrical configurations, the four SDMs exhibit different tunable absorption resonances spanning from 1.5 µm to 5.0 µm wavelength range. The resonances of absorption spectra can be tuned in the range of 320 nm, and the absorption intensities become lower by increasing the gaps of the air insulator layer. To increase the sensitivity of the proposed devices, SDMs exhibit high sensitivities of 3312 nm/RIU (refractive index unit, RIU), 3362 nm/RIU, 3342 nm/RIU, and 3567 nm/RIU for SDM-1, SDM-2, SDM-3, and SDM-4, respectively. The highest correlation coefficient is 0.99999. This study paves the way to the possibility of optical gas sensors and biosensors with high sensitivity.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive motor-impairment disorder related to brain injury early in development. To gain new insights into the mechanisms of CP and the therapeutic efficacy of Baimai ointment, we used a high-throughput quantitative proteomic approach to evaluate proteomic changes in the hippocampus and motor cortex in a rat model of CP induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) combined with hypoxia/ischemia (H/I). More than 2000 proteins were identified in each brain region with high confidence. Quantitative analysis demonstrated profound disturbances in the proteomes of the hippocampus and motor cortex after LPS + H/I, in addition to the disruption of the motor system. In contrast, the topical application of Baimai ointment not only alleviated the motor deficit in the CP model rats, but also restored the proteomes in the brain cortex. Furthermore, astrocytes in the hippocampus were strongly activated in the Baimai-treated CP rat brains, associated with an increase in neurotrophic factors. Proteomic analysis demonstrated that the CP model induced neuroinflammatory responses in the brain which were reversed by the topical application of Baimai ointment. This study highlights the unexpected roles of hippocampus and motor cortex neurons in CP progress and treatment, thus providing potentially novel therapeutic targets for CP.

Creeping solitons, which belong to the class of pulsating solitons, can be meaningful for fundamental physics owing to their fruitful nonlinear dynamics. Their characteristics in mode-locked lasers have been studied theoretically, but it is difficult to experimentally observe evolution dynamics in real time. Here, we have experimentally observed the temporal and spectral evolution dynamics of creeping solitons in a passively mode-locked fiber laser by employing time-lens and dispersive Fourier transform technique. With the aid of Raman amplification, the measured recording length of the time lens in the asynchronous mode could be substantially improved. Temporal soliton snaking motion and spectral breathing dynamics are experimentally obtained, confirming intrinsic feature of pulsation dynamics. These results display how single-shot measurements can offer new insights into ultrafast transient dynamics in nonlinear optics.

Determining the optimal capacity is an urgent problem in the planning and construction stages of hybrid systems. This study focused on exploring a universal method for determining the capacity configuration for the grid-connected integrated system incorporating cascade hydropower, solar/photovoltaic (PV), and wind considering cascade reservoir connection and PV-wind complementarity. First, the wind and solar energy complementarity considering the resources characteristics, and the method of calculating their capacity proportions with the objective of minimizing cumulative fluctuations were proposed. Then, a large-scale hydro-PV-wind hybrid system sizing model and method considering the electricity transmission requirements and cascade hydropower comprehensive characteristics were proposed, and an optimal capacity decision method based on complementary guarantee rate (CGR) and cumulative time proportion (CTP) was formed. Finally, a case study on the upper reaches of the Yellow River in the Qinghai province of China was used to confirm their feasibility and universality. The results indicated that (1) as the PV capacity proportion increased, the cumulative fluctuations of the total output of PV and wind tended to decrease first and then increase, and the optimum capacity proportion of PV and wind for the multi-energy system was 0.744 and 0.256, respectively; (2) the optimal PV-wind capacity configurations for the world’s largest cascade hydro-PV-wind system under three- and five-segment line transmission modes were 561.2 and 651.8 MW, respectively, and the relationship between CGR, CTP, and wind-PV capacity was quantified; and (3) cascade reservoirs storage performance and solar/wind resources characteristics had a significant impact on energy complementation. Through the coordination of hydraulic and electric power between multiple stations, cascade hydropower can better complement PV/wind. However, the hydro-PV-wind combination had a negative impact on the hydropower daily power generation and the reservoir water level stability. Furthermore, for cascade hydropower, wind-solar configuration capacity should be considered mainly from the perspective of reservoir regulation performance, hydropower installed capacity, and hydropower role allocation. Thus, this sizing method provides new concepts for the large-scale development and application of clean renewable energy sources.

Spectral wavelength and bandwidth tunable mode-locking ultrafast fiber laser has widespread applications in the fields of optical telecommunication, spectroscopy, pump-probe measurements, and so on. Here, we report an single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-based wavelength and bandwidth tunable mode-locked fiber laser operation in the C[Formula: see text]L band. The output spectral wavelength and bandwidth can be continuously tuned by adjusting the intra-cavity tunable filter with a wavelength tuning range spanning [Formula: see text]70 nm (from 1539.8 nm to 1610.1 nm) and bandwidth from 0.5 nm to 4.5 nm, respectively. Our results provide a compact, mode-locked fiber laser wider in tuning range than the other systems for various applications requiring variable spectral wavelength or bandwidth.

Previous studies have reported that memantine presents evidence of therapeutic benefits in several animal models of ischemic stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the effect of memantine on secondary damage in the ipsilateral thalamus after focal cortical infarction remains undefined. Present study investigated whether memantine has a protective effect on secondary damage in the ipsilateral thalamus after focal cerebral infarction in rats. At 24 h after distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), rats in the memantine and vehicle groups were intraperitoneal injected with memantine and isopycnic vehicle, respectively, was once daily administered for consecutive 7 days. Infarct size was evaluated through Nissl staining and sensory decline determined using adhesive removal test. Secondary thalamic damage was assessed using Nissl staining and immunofluorescence 8 days after MCAO. Immunoboltting was used to identify tau and apoptosis-associated proteins in the ipsilateral thalamus after MCAO. Results revealed that memantine ameliorated sensory decline compared to the vehicle controls. Subsequently, tau phosphorylated at threonine 231 (p-tau-231), glycogen synthase kinase3βpY216 (GSK3βpY216) and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2ApY307) were reduced by memantine, causing greater reduction in neuronal loss and inhibition of reactive astrogliosis in the ipsilateral ventroposterior thalamic nucleus (VPN) compared with the vehicle groups. In addition, increase in secondary damage-induced TUNEL-positive cells was blunted by memantine, as demonstrated by the significant reduction in expression of apoptosis-associated proteins. Our results suggest that memantine has a neuro-protective effect on secondary damage in the ipsilateral thalamus following MCAO by inhibiting the activity of GSK3βpY216/PP2ApY307 and down regulating the levels of p-tau-231 protein.

Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is a serious complication that stimulates inflammation during reperfusion therapy after acute ischemic stroke. Rosuvastatin, a 3-hydroxymethyl-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor, might improve the outcome of HT by inhibiting neuroinflammation. This study aimed to explore the protective effects of rosuvastatin against HT after recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) treatment in mice with experimental stroke via the attenuation of inflammation. A total of one hundred sixty-nine male BALB/c mice were used in the experiment. HT was successfully established in 70 mice that were subjected to 3 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) followed by a 10 mg/kg rt-PA injection over 10 min and reperfusion for 24 h. The mice were then administered rosuvastatin (1 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg) or saline (vehicle). The brain water content and neurological deficits (wire hang and adhesive removal somatosensory tests) were assessed at 24 h after rt-PA reperfusion following MCAO surgery. The morphology, blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability and number of astrocytes and microglia were assessed by immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy and western blotting at 24 h after rt-PA reperfusion following MCAO surgery. Rosuvastatin protected against impaired neurological function and reversed the BBB leakage observed in the HT group. The increased activation of astrocytes and microglia and secretion of inflammatory factors caused by HT damage were significantly attenuated by high-dose rosuvastatin treatment vs. normal-dose rosuvastatin treatment. Related inflammatory pathways, such as the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, were downregulated in the rosuvastatin-treated groups compared with the HT group. In conclusion, our results indicate that rosuvastatin is a promising therapeutic agent for HT after rt-PA reperfusion following MCAO surgery in mice, as it attenuates neuroinflammation. Additionally, high-dose rosuvastatin treatment could have a greater anti-inflammatory effect on HT than normal-dose rosuvastatin treatment.

Highlights • Stakeholders scored ninety measures for water pollution from agriculture. • Model optimisation shortlisted twelve measures for livestock and arable farms. • Shortlisted measures reduced national nitrate load to rivers by 2.5%, sediment 5.6%. • Shortlisted measures reduced national phosphorus load to rivers by 11.9%. • Annual cost to farms at national scale was £450 M equating to £52 per hectare., Graphical abstract Image 1, The need for improved abatement of agricultural diffuse water pollution represents cause for concern throughout the world. A critical aspect in the design of on-farm intervention programmes concerns the potential technical cost-effectiveness of packages of control measures. The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) calls for Programmes of Measures (PoMs) to protect freshwater environments and these comprise ‘basic’ (mandatory) and ‘supplementary’ (incentivised) options. Recent work has used measure review, elicitation of stakeholder attitudes and a process-based modelling framework to identify a new alternative set of ‘basic’ agricultural sector control measures for nutrient and sediment abatement across England. Following an initial scientific review of 708 measures, 90 were identified for further consideration at an industry workshop and 63 had industry support. Optimisation modelling was undertaken to identify a shortlist of measures using the Demonstration Test Catchments as sentinel agricultural landscapes. Optimisation selected 12 measures relevant to livestock or arable systems. Model simulations of 95% implementation of these 12 candidate ‘basic’ measures, in addition to business-as-usual, suggested reductions in the national agricultural nitrate load of 2.5%, whilst corresponding reductions in phosphorus and sediment were 11.9% and 5.6%, respectively. The total cost of applying the candidate ‘basic’ measures across the whole of England was estimated to be £450 million per annum, which is equivalent to £52 per hectare of agricultural land. This work contributed to a public consultation in 2016.

The waveguiding properties of spoof surface plasmon modes propagating along three kinds of one-dimensional groove arrays composed of V-shaped, rectangular, and trapezoid grooves, respectively, are numerically investigated. The results show that the trapezoid groove array demonstrates a tighter confinement compared to the other two groove arrays with the same groove opening. The propagation loss of the three structures at the same frequency are analyzed, from which it is concluded that the propagation loss of spoof plasmon waveguides is determined not only by the difference between the operation frequency and asymptotic frequency but also by the loss associated with the TEM mode inside individual grooves. The bending loss through small bending radii of the three structures (~0.5λ) is also calculated showing that although the straight trapezoid groove array exhibits highest propagation loss, the transmission loss through a 90° bend of it is lower resulting from the tighter confinement than that of the other two groove array bends having the same radius. This property together with the ease of fabrication makes the trapezoid structure a better candidate for planar terahertz photonic integration on the subwavelength scale.

A sediment core was collected and dated using 210 Pb ex dating method off the waterspout of nuclear power base of Daya Bay, northeastern South China Sea. The γ-emitting radionuclides were analyzed using HPGe γ spectrometry, gross alpha and beta radioactivity as well as other geochemical indicators were deliberated to assess the impact of nuclear power plants (NPP) operation and to study the past environment changes. It suggested that NPP provided no new radioactivity source to sediment based on the low specific activity of 137 Cs. Two broad peaks of TOC, TC and LOI accorded well with the commercial operations of Daya Bay NPP (1994.2 and 1994.5) and LNPP Phase I (2002.5 and 2003.3), implying that the mass input of cooling water from NPP may result into a substantial change in the ecological environment and Daya Bay has been severely impacted by human activities.

Previous studies have demonstrated that both oxidative stress and autophagy play important roles in secondary neuronal degeneration in the ipsilateral thalamus after distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). This study aimed to investigate whether oxidative stress is associated with autophagy activation within the ipsilateral thalamus after distal MCAO. Sixty stroke-prone renovascular hypertensive rats were subjected to distal MCAO or sham operation, and were killed at 14 days after MCAO. Mn-SOD, LC3-II, Beclin-1 and p62 expression were evaluated by immunostaining and immunoblotting. Secondary damage in the thalamus was assessed with Nissl staining and immunostaining. The association of oxidative stress with autophagy activation was investigated by the antioxidant, ebselen. We found that treatment with ebselen at 24h after MCAO significantly reduced the expression of Mn-SOD in the ipsilateral thalamus at 14 days following focal cerebral infarction. In parallel, it prevented the elevation of LC3-II and Beclin-1, and the reduction of p62. Furthermore, ebselen attenuated the neuronal loss and gliosis in the ipsilateral thalamus. These results suggested that ebselen reduced oxidative stress, autophagy activation and secondary damage in the ipsilateral thalamus following MCAO. There are associations between oxidative stress, autophagy activation and secondary damage in the thalamus after MCAO.

We analyze the use of spoof plasmon resonance due to the excitation of spoof surface plasmons in a 1D array of rectangular grooves for terahertz refractive index sensing in an Otto configuration. The dependence of the resonant angle on the change of the refractive index is numerically investigated and a high angular sensitivity about S=320°/RIU is demonstrated, which leads to a high resolution of 3×10−7 RIU assuming 1×10−4 degree for angular resolution. We further show that by using a slanted geometry an even higher sensitivity up to 452°/RIU can be achieved. These results provide a novel method for terahertz refractive index sensing.

A major collaborative research project in the UK is delivering new science to support improved targeting of on-farm pollution mitigation measures for the benefit of freshwater ecology. One important aspect of the project concerns a national scale evaluation of the costs and efficacy of packages of sediment mitigation measures which can be delivered over and above the existing implementation of abatement through various policy instruments including advice and new targeted agri-environment schemes. The assessment includes typical farm types present across England and Wales. Outputs from this assessment of costs and efficacy will eventually be used to help model the potential for closing the sediment pollution gap in those water bodies currently failing water quality targets due to sediment loss from agriculture. Some preliminary uncertainty ranges in costs (–£146,402 to £175,631) and effectiveness (0–80%) associated with a potential policy scenario implementing a large number (up to 93) of abatement measures at 95% uptake are presented in this paper.

We successfully demonstrated all-fiber mode-locked laser with the graphene-incorporated sol-gel glass as the saturable absorber, and conventional soliton spectrum with Kelly sideband and spectral full width of 1.1 nm is obtained.

Intracranial branch atheromatous disease is an atheromatous pathophysiological process associated with occlusion or stenosis at the orifice of a deep penetrating artery. However, apart from autopsy, atherosclerosis in the penetrating artery has not been confirmed in vivo. In this case, we confirmed that the ostium was located in the parent artery plaque and demonstrated the atherosclerosis of the proximal penetrating artery by using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. HR-MRI can be used to identify the pathological changes in penetrating arteries and provides more reliable basic information for the clinical subclassification and optimal medical treatment of penetrating artery infarction.

Introduction: Focal cerebral cortical infarction causes β-amyloid (Aβ) deposition and secondary neuronal degeneration in the ipsilateral thalamus. The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of liraglutide, a long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue, on Aβ deposits and secondary neuron damage in thalamus after cerebral infarction. Methods: Sixteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and then randomly divided into liraglutide and vehicle groups and 8 sham-operated rats as control. At 1 hour after MCAO, rats were subcutaneously injected with liraglutide (100 μg/kg/d) and isopyknic vehicle, respectively, then continuously injected once a day for 7 days. Sensory function and secondary thalamic damage were assessed with adhesive-removal test, Nissl staining and immunostaining. Terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labelling (TUNEL) staining and Western blot were employed to detect the neuronal apoptosis at 7 days after MCAO. Results: At 7 days after MCAO, liraglutide decreased the mean time of adhesive-removal at left forepaw compared with the vehicle group (P < 0.05). Treatment with liraglutide reduced Aβ deposition compared with that in the vehicle group (P < 0.05). The number of intact neurons in the ipsilateral thalamus was decreased compared with the control group at 7 days post-MCAO, liraglutide significantly improved the number of intact neurons compared with the vehicle group (P < 0.05). Liraglutide decreased the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive area and the number of ionized calcium bindingadaptor molecule-1 (Iba-1)-positive cells in the ipsilateral thalamus compared with the vehicle group (P < 0.05). Liraglutide significantly decreased the number of TUNEL-positive neurons in the ipsilateral thalamus compared with the vehicle group (P < 0.05). Consistent with the TUNEL staining results, liraglutide increased the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax (P < 0.05) and decreased the expression level of cleaved Caspase-3 relative to the vehicle group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Liraglutide reduces Aβ deposits in the ipsilateral thalamus, improves the secondary thalamic damage and neurological deficit after cerebral infarction.

On account of the continuously increasing electricity consumption and concern for environmental issues, renewable energy sources have been widely utilized to generate electricity, and they present advantages such as cleanness, easy availability, low cost, and abundance. In 2017, the installed capacity of solar and wind power worldwide amounted to 903.1 GW, which represented 41.4% of the total installed capacity of renewable energy. Hybrid renewable energy systems have been proposed to overcome the variability and randomness of a single renewable energy source such as solar and wind power, and more than 80% of them are off-grid systems. Meanwhile, it is necessary to determine the size of each component to design a reliable and cost-effective hybrid renewable energy system. Therefore, this paper mainly reviews the recent classification, evaluation indicators, and sizing methodologies of hybrid renewable energy systems (stand-alone and grid-connected). Further optimization research is still required to improve the overall performance of hybrid renewable energy systems. Decision makers can explore and develop hybrid systems including hydropower and/or pumped hydro storage based on their superiority, and they should also pay attention to the development of hybrid energy storage. In addition to reliability and economic indicators, which have applications above 80%, more attention should be payed to environmental and social indicators to determine the system capacity, and some new indicators should be disseminated. The features of traditional, artificial intelligence, and hybrid methods, in additional to software tools, were assessed. Moreover, hybrid methods with high accuracy and fast convergence that can surmount the defects of single methods are the most promising sizing method compared to the other three sizing methods. This review is valuable to understand the current status and development trends of optimal sizing for hybrid renewable energy systems.

// Yuanhan Chen 1 , Zhen Xie 2 , Chenggen Xiao 1, 3 , Min Zhang 4 , Zhilian Li 1 , Jianteng Xie 1 , Yusheng Zhang 5 , Xingchen Zhao 1, 6 , Pengfei Zeng 5 , Liyi Mo 1, 7 , Xinling Liang 1 , Wei Shi 1 1 Division of Nephrology, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China 2 Department of Dermatology, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu, China 3 Division of Nephrology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Hunan, China 4 Department of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China 5 Second Division of Internal Medicine, Wuhua People’s Hospital, Guangdong, China 6 Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China 7 Department of Nephrology, Dongguan People’s Hospital, Guangdong Province, China Correspondence to: Wei Shi, email: ssweicn@163.com Xinling Liang, email: xinlingliang@139.com Keywords: indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, kynurenine to tryptophan ratio, hemodialysis, immune tolerance, infection Received: September 18, 2016 Accepted: January 24, 2017 Published: February 25, 2017 ABSTRACT Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) has emerged as a pivotal enzyme for mediating immune tolerance. Because IDO metabolizes tryptophan into kynurenine, the plasma kynurenine/tryptophan (Kyn/Trp) ratio has been widely used as a marker of systemic IDO. Here, we evaluated the clinical value of using the plasma Kyn/Trp ratio to estimate cell-mediated immune responses to tuberculin skin testing and risk of new bacterial infection. We also compared the Kyn/Trp ratio to a novel IDO marker, the IDO median fluorescence index (MFI) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which was determined by flow cytometry. In 228 patients from two hemodialysis centers, the two IDO markers were higher in patients than in healthy controls but were not correlated with each other. In vitro experiments demonstrated that peripheral blood mononuclear cells could not metabolize tryptophan into kynurenine, indicating that the increased Kyn/Trp ratio was IDO-independent. Skin induration diameters of tuberculin skin testing were correlated with the IDO MFI (negatively), but not the Kyn/Trp ratio. Further, in a 24-month prospective cohort, the Kyn/Trp ratio was not correlated with clinical infection. Alternatively, patients with a higher IDO MFI had a lower accumulative infection-free survival rate. Using a Cox proportional hazard model, it was also revealed that a higher IDO MFI was significantly associated with new bacterial infection. Taken together, these results indicate that the Kyn/Trp ratio is not a reliable circulating IDO marker in hemodialysis patients. However, the IDO MFI reflects an immunocompromised state and thus might be a potential clinical marker of bacterial infection.

Due to variations of misalignment and clearance, the parameters of the contactless transformer (CT) change a lot, creating great challenge in the design and control of the inductive power transfer systems. In this paper, the characteristics of a S/P compensated resonant converter is analyzed by introducing relative self-inductance coefficient and relative mutual-inductance coefficient to describe the parameter variations for CT. Based on the voltage gain and input impedance analysis, the voltage gain value at the intersection point and the inductive region of the input impedance are found. Furthermore, a fully tuned point is selected fulfilling zero voltage switching (ZVS) condition for the full-parameter ranges of load and CT. A 7.5 kW prototype with constant frequency control is developed and fabricated to verify the analysis.