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The influence of Na2SO4 on the formation of ZnO whiskers was investigated in this paper. ZnO whiskers with aspect ratios of up to 50 were synthesized by dissolving ɛ-Zn(OH)2 precursor in NaOH/Na2SO4 solution at room temperature, followed by aging of the resulting solution at 140 °C for 6 h. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses revealed that SO42− ions were primarily adsorbed on the (1 0 0) plane of the ZnO whiskers via an outer-sphere complex configuration (O H···O), thereby promoting the one-dimensional growth of ZnO whiskers along the c-axis.

Shuai Yuan,1,* Xinyu Zhou,1,2,* Yuqing Zhang,1,3,* Hanpin Zhang,1,3,* Juncai Pu,1,3 Lining Yang,1,3 Lanxiang Liu,1,3 Xiaofeng Jiang,1,3 Peng Xie1,3 1Institute of Neuroscience and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing Medical University, 2Department of Psychiatry, 3Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Depression and anxiety are the most common mental disorders in children and adolescents. Bibliotherapy is a treatment using written materials for mental health problems. Its main advantages are ease of use, low cost, low staffing demands, and greater privacy. Yet few meta-analyses have focused on the effect of bibliotherapy on depression and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Methods: We included randomized controlled trials comparing bibliotherapy with control conditions for depression and anxiety in children and adolescents (aged ≤18 years). Five electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, and PsycINFO) were searched from inception to January 2017. Efficacy was defined as mean change scores in depression and anxiety symptoms. Acceptability was defined as the proportion of participants who discontinued the treatment. Random effects model was used. An intention-to-treat analysis was conducted. Results: Eight studies with 979 participants were selected. At posttreatment, bibliotherapy was significantly more effective than the control conditions in reducing the symptoms of depression or anxiety (standardized mean difference, -0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.89 to -0.15). Bibliotherapy did not have statistically significantly more all-cause discontinuations than controls (risk ratios, 1.66; 95% CI, 0.93 to 2.95). We also performed subgroup analyses for efficacy outcomes in different categories (types of disorder, mean age, control conditions, and parental involvement) of studies and found that bibliotherapy has been more effective in depressive adolescents. Limitations: Limited studies were eligible in this review and hence there was potential publication bias. Conclusion: According to the findings in this review, bibliotherapy may be more beneficial in treating depression in adolescents, but shows less robust effects for anxiety in children. Further well-defined clinical studies should be performed to confirm these outcomes. Keywords: mental disorders, bibliotherapy, young, meta-analysis, self help, psychotherapy

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is highly prevalent and persistent in children and adolescents. However, evidence for the efficacy and acceptability of psychological interventions for SAD in children and adolescents remains unclear. Seven electronic databases (PubMed, CENTRAL, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ProQuest) were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared psychological interventions for SAD with control conditions in children and adolescents were included. Primary outcomes were the efficacy (mean change in anxiety symptom scores) and acceptability (dropouts for all reasons). Secondary outcomes were remission, quality of life/functional improvement, and depressive symptoms measures. Seventeen RCTs were included in this meta-analysis. Psychological interventions (including cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral therapy) were significantly more effective than control conditions, with a standardized mean difference (SMD) of − 1.13, and remission with a risk ratio (RR) of 8.99, the number needed to treat was 3.3. There was no statistically significant difference between psychological interventions and control conditions for all-cause dropouts (RR = 1.00). Psychological interventions were superior to control conditions in improving quality of life/functioning (SMD = 0.79) and reducing depressive symptoms (SMD = − 0.39). Given considerable heterogeneity of primary efficacy outcome, a series of subgroup analyses of different variables were conducted. Psychological interventions are probably efficacious in the treatment of SAD among children and adolescents, and may markedly improve quality of life and functioning in this population. However, this finding should be interpreted with caution because of the high heterogeneity of trials and low literature quality.

IntroductionDepressive disorder is common in children and adolescents, with important consequences and serious impairments in terms of personal and social functioning. While both pharmacological and psychological interventions have been shown to be effective, there is still uncertainty about the balance between these and what treatment strategy should be preferred in clinical practice. Therefore, we aim to compare and rank in a network meta-analysis (NMA) the commonly used psychological, pharmacological and combined interventions for depressive disorder in children and adolescents.Methods and analysisWe will update the literature search of two previous NMAs for the identification of trials of antidepressant and psychotherapy alone for depressive disorder in children and adolescents. For identification of trials of combination interventions, seven databases (PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, LiLACS) will be searched from date of inception. We will also search ClinicalTrials.gov, the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and check relevant reports on the US Food and Drug Administration website for unpublished data. Building on our previous findings in the field, we will include any commonly prescribed oral antidepressants and any manualised or structured psychotherapies, as well as their combinations. Randomised controlled trials assessing any active intervention against active comparator or pill placebo/psychological controls in acute treatment for depressive disorder in children and adolescents will be included. The primary outcomes will be efficacy (mean change in depressive symptoms), and acceptability of treatment (dropout rate due to any cause). The secondary outcomes will be remission rate, tolerability of treatment (dropouts for adverse events), as well as suicide-related outcomes (suicidal behaviour or ideation). We will perform Bayesian NMAs for all relative outcome measures. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses will be conducted to assess the robustness of the findings.DisseminationThis NMA will provide the most up to date and clinically useful information about the comparative efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants, psychological intervention and their combination in the acute treatment of children and adolescents with depressive disorder. This is the newest NMA and therefore these results are very important in terms of evidence-based medicine. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication.Protocol registrationPROSPERO CRD42015020841.

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Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent and serious mental disorder with high rates of suicide and disability. However, the underlying pathogenesis of MDD is complicated and remains largely unclear. An integrated analysis of multiple types of omics data may improve comprehensive understanding of the entire molecular mechanism of MDD. In this study, we applied an integrated analysis of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabolomics and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based proteomics to investigate changes in the hippocampus in the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rat model of depression. Only the stress-susceptible rats in the CUMS group were selected for profiling against controls. Differential analysis identified 30 metabolites and 170 proteins between the two groups. The integrated analyses revealed four major changes in the hippocampus of CUMS rats: (1) impairment in amino acid metabolism and protein synthesis/degradation; (2) dysregulation of glutamate and glycine metabolism and their transport/catabolism related proteins; (3) disturbances in fatty acid and glycerophospholipid metabolism accompanied by alterations in the corresponding metabolic enzymes; (4) abnormal expression of synapse-associated proteins. These results provide further important insights into the pathophysiology of depression and may help identify potential targets for antidepressant drugs.

Major depressive disorder is a serious mental disorder with high morbidity and mortality. The role of social stress in the development of depression remains unclear. Here, we used the social defeat stress paradigm to induce depression-like behavior in rats, then evaluated the behavior of the rats and measured metabolic changes in the prefrontal cortex using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Within the first week after the social defeat procedure, the sucrose preference test (SPT), open field test (OFT), elevated plus maze (EPM) and forced swim test (FST) were conducted to examine the depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors. For our metabolite analysis, multivariate statistics were applied to observe the distribution of all samples and to differentiate the socially defeated group from the control group. Ingenuity pathway analysis was used to find the potential relationships among the differential metabolites. In the OFT and EPM, there were no significant differences between the two experimental groups. In the SPT and FST, socially defeated rats showed less sucrose intake and longer immobility time compared with control rats. Metabolic profiling identified 25 significant variables with good predictability. Ingenuity pathways analysis revealed that "Hereditary Disorder, Neurological Disease, Lipid Metabolism" was the most significantly altered network. Stress-induced alterations of low molecular weight metabolites were observed in the prefrontal cortex of rats. Particularly, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and energy metabolism were significantly perturbed. The results of this study suggest that repeated social defeat can lead to metabolic changes and depression-like behavior in rats.

This paper reports the variations of strength, resistivity and thermal parameters of clay after high-temperature heating. Experiments were carried out to test the physical properties of clay heated at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 800°C in a furnace. The experiment results show that below 400°C the uniaxial compressive strength and resistivity change very little. However, above 400°C, both increase rapidly. At a temperature under 400°C, the thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity decrease significantly. The thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) test indicate that a series of changes occur in kaolinite at temperatures from 400 to 600°C, which is considered the primary cause of the variation of physical and mechanical properties of clay under high temperatures.

Major depressive disorder is a serious psychiatric condition associated with high rates of suicide and is a leading cause of health burden worldwide. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of major depression are still essentially unclear. In our study, a non-targeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approach was used to investigate metabolic changes in the prefrontal cortex of the learned helplessness (LH) rat model of depression. Body-weight measurements and behavioral tests including the active escape test, sucrose preference test, forced swimming test, elevated plus-maze and open field test were used to assess changes in the behavioral spectrum after inescapable footshock stress. Rats in the stress group exhibited significant learned helpless and depression-like behaviors, while without any significant change in anxiety-like behaviors. Using multivariate and univariate statistical analysis, a total of 18 differential metabolites were identified after the footshock stress protocol. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis and MetaboAnalyst were applied for predicted pathways and biological functions analysis. "Amino Acid Metabolism, Molecule Transport, Small Molecule Biochemistry" was the most significantly altered network in the LH model. Amino acid metabolism, particularly glutamate metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, was significantly perturbed in the prefrontal cortex of LH rats.

Developing strategies that allow tuning anti-adhesion ability of membranes in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) is of primary interest in membrane fouling research. In this study, interaction energies between foulants and membrane in three different interaction scenarios were systematically assessed based on thermodynamic methods. It was found that, membrane surface electron donor tension (γ(-)) rather than surface hydrophilicity was a more reliable indicator to predict adsorptive fouling. The interaction energy would be continuously repulsive in the initial range of separation distance when membrane γ(-) is higher than a critical value, suggesting that designing membrane with γ(-) higher than a critical value would confer membrane with high anti-adhesion ability. It was also found that, zeta potential on the membrane surface exerted certain effects on adsorptive fouling. This study proposed a novel strategy regarding adjusting membrane γ(-) to tune anti-adhesion ability of membrane, and also offered a thermodynamic theoretical background to this strategy.

A new dichlorvos molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor was prepared. The sensitive membrane sensor was fabricated by electro-polymerizing on an Au electrode surface using o-aminophenol as a monomer and dichlorvos as a template. The 5 mmol/L K3[Fe(CN)6] containing 0.1 mol/L KCl was used as the test background solution, while cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were used to study the properties of the senor. The changes of oxidation peak current versus dichlorvos concentration showed linearity in the range of 0.12–0.42 µmol/L (R 2 = 0.9432) and 0.45–15 µmol/L (R 2 = 0.9516) with a detection limit of 0.06 µmol/L (S/N = 3). Moreover, the selectivity and repeatability properties of the dichlorvos electrochemical sensor were examined. Results showed that the senor had excellent repeatability (RSD = 3.92%, n = 5), good selectivity to the dichlorvos in detection, and only a ten minute response time. Organophosphorus insecticides have some response signals in the detections.

Major depressive disorder, with serious impairment in cognitive and social functioning, is a complex psychiatric disorder characterized by pervasive and persistent low mood and a loss of interest or pleasure. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of depression remain largely unknown. In this study, we used a non-targeted metabolomics approach based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of the prefrontal cortex in chronic restraint stress (CRS)-treated rats. CRS was induced in the stress group by restraining rats in a plastic restrainer for 6h every day. This stress paradigm continued for 21 days. Body weight measurement and behavior tests were applied, including the sucrose preference test for anhedonia, the forced swimming test for despair-like behavior, and open field test and the elevated plus-maze to test for anxiety-like behaviors in rats after CRS. Differentially expressed metabolites associated with CRS-treated rats were identified by combining multivariate and univariate statistical analysis and corrected for multiple testing using the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure. A heat map of differential metabolites was constructed using Matlab. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis was applied to identify the predicted pathways and biological functions relevant to the bio-molecules of interest. Our findings showed that CRS induces depression-like behaviors and not anxiety-like behaviors. Thirty-six metabolites were identified as potential depression biomarkers involved in amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism and lipid metabolism, as well as a disturbance in neurotransmitters. Consequently, this study provides useful insights into the molecular mechanisms of depression.

Nowadays it is more difficult to continuously monitoring physiological parameters in the clinical work, thus we use photoplethysmography signal to simultaneously supervise heart rate and respiration rate parameters of human body. This paper mainly adopt wavelet analysis algorithm analyzing and processing the pulse signal, of which employ wave crests searching algorithm in the calculation of heart and apply wavelet transform combining with power spectrum method in the calculation of respiratory. The result indicates that the proposed methods can meanwhile obtain heart rate and respiration rate parameters, therefore providing an easy monitor way for clinic workers.

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) was continuously operated to investigate mechanisms of fouling caused by the gel layer in this study. Agar was used as a model foulant for gel layer formation, and filtration resistance of gel layers was systematically assessed. The results showed that gel layer possessed unusually high specific filtration resistance (SFR) and high measured porosity as compared with cake layer. Current knowledge cannot explain the contradiction between high filtration resistance and high porosity of gel layer. A new fouling mechanism based on Flory-Huggins theory was then proposed. Filtration resistance of agar gel layer was found to be independent of pH and ionic strength, but linearly increase with gel thickness. The results are accordant with the mechanism deductions. Simulation of the mechanism model showed that the filtration resistance induced by mixing chemical potential variation was comparable to the experimental data of filtration resistance of agar gel layer, indicating that the proposed mechanism is the predominant mechanism responsible for the high filtration resistance of gel layer. The proposed mechanism was further verified from the bound water viewpoint.

Purpose: Dielectric resonances have previously been advanced as a significant cause of image degradation at higher fields. In this work, a study of dielectric resonances in ultra high field MRI is presented to explore the real importance of dielectric resonances in the human brain in this setting. Method: Gradient-recalled echo images were acquired using a transverse electromagnetic resonator at 1.5, 4.7, and 8 T. Images were obtained from the human head and from phantoms filled with pure water, saline, and mineral oil. In addition, an exact theoretical analysis of dielectric resonances is presented for a spherical phantom and for a model of the human head. Results: Theoretical results demonstrate that distilled water can sustain dielectric resonances in head-sized spheres near 200 and 360 MHz, but the presence of significant conductivity suppresses these resonances. These findings are confirmed experimentally with proton images of water and saline (0.05 and 0.125 M NaCl). For lossy phantoms, coupling between the source and phantom overwhelms the dielectric resonance. Because of their low relative permittivity, mineral oil phantoms with 20 cm diameter do not exhibit dielectric resonances below -900 MHz. Significant dielectric resonances were not observed in human head images obtained at 1.5, 4.7, and 8 T. Conclusion: It appears that dielectric resonances do not have any real importance in determining image quality for MR studies of the human head. It is advanced that RF coils are much more likely to be the source of any inhomogeneity. Index Terms: Magnetic resonance imaging, artifacts-Magnetic resonance imaging, ultra high frequency-Dielectric resonance-Image quality.

ZnO particles with various morphologies were synthesized by mixing ZnSO4and NaOH solutions at 25°C followed by aging of the suspensions at 40–80°C for 2.0 h, keeping the initial molar ratio of Zn2+to OH−at 1 : 4. ZnO irregular plates were prepared by adding NaOH to ZnSO4whileε-Zn(OH)2rhombic particles were produced using the opposite mixing way. After aging of the slurries at 80°C for 2.0 h, the ZnO plates were kept stable while theε-Zn(OH)2rhombic particles were converted to ZnO whiskers with a length of 1.0–4.0 μm and a diameter of 0.03–0.3 μm. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that the formation of the Zn-bearing precipitates (ZnO orε-Zn(OH)2) at room temperature was connected closely with the solution composition.

Complex renderings of synthetic scenes or virtual environments, once deemed impossible for consumer rendering, are becoming available for modern computer architecture. These renderings, due to their high-quality image synthesis, can take minutes to hours to render. Our work focuses on using Image-Based Rendering (IBR) techniques to manage and explore large and complex datasets and virtual scenes. The key idea for this research is to pre-process the scene and render key viewpoints on pre-selected paths inside the scene. We present new techniques to reconstruct approximations to any view along the path, which allows the user to roam around inside the virtual environments with interactive frame rates. We have implemented a pipeline for generating the sampled key viewpoints and reconstructing panoramic-based IBR models. Our implementation includes efficient two-step caching and pre-fetching algorithms, mesh simplification schemes and texture removal and database compression techniques. The system has been successfully tested on several scenes and satisfactory results have been obtained. An analysis and comparison of errors is also presented.

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to describe the design and construction of an 8 T/80 cm whole-body MRI system operating at 340 MHz. Method: The 8 T/80 cm magnet was constructed from 414 km of niobium titanium superconducting wire. The winding of this wire on four aluminum formers resulted in a total inductance of 4,155 H. Gradient subsystems included either a body gradient or a head gradient along with a removable shim insert. The magnet and gradient subsystems were interfaced to two spectrometers. These provided the control of the gradient amplifiers and the two sets of four RF power amplifiers. The latter provide in excess of 8 kW of RF power from 10 to 140 MHz and 10 kW of RF power from 245 to 345 MHz. A dedicated computer-controlled patient table was designed and assembled. The entire system is located in a clinical setting, facilitating patient-based studies. Results: The 8 T/80 cm magnet was energized without complication and achieved persistent operation using 198.9 A of current, thereby storing 81.5 MJ of magnetic energy. Exceptional performance was observed for nearly all components both in isolation and when combined within the complete system. Conclusion: An 8 T/80 cm MRI system has been assembled. The magnet subsystem is extremely stable and is characterized by good homogeneity and acceptable boil-off rates. Index Terms: Magnetic resonance imaging, apparatus and equipment-Magnetic resonance imaging, techniques-Tesla-Image quality.

Uniform ZnO whiskers with a length of 3.5–4.0 μm and a diameter of 180 nm have been synthesised via the EDTA–assisted hydrothermal route, using ZnO nanoparticles as the raw material and NaOH solution as the reaction medium. In order to convert the ZnO nanoparticles to ZnO whiskers via the dissolution–hydrothermal precipitation route, ZnO nanoparticles were firstly dissolved in concentrated NaOH solutions at room temperature and then diluted with water to form the super–saturated meta–stable solution before hydrothermal treatment. The presence of minor amount of EDTA favoured the 1D growth of ZnO whiskers. The possible growth mechanism of ZnO whiskers and the effect of EDTA were discussed from the viewpoint of thermodynamic analysis.