Search

BackgroundThe ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced the development of vaccines. Reports have suggested that vaccines play a role in inducing autoimmune diseases (AIDs). Scattered cases have reported that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines may promote thyroid disease, including Graves’ disease (GD). However, the effect of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on GD remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the response of thyrotropin receptor antibody (TRAB) to inactivated SARS-COV-2 vaccines.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study to observe the differences in thyroid function and TRAB trends between pre-vaccination (n=412) and post-vaccination (n=231) groups at an interval of 2 months. We then retrospectively observed the differences in serum thyroid function and TRAB levels at 3 months before (n=280), 1 month before (n=294), 1 month after (n=306), and 3 months after (n=250) vaccination. Subsequently, 173 GD patients who were not vaccinated with inactivated SARS-COV-2 vaccines were selected for a prospective study. Thyroid function and TRAB assessment were performed before 3 and 1 months and 1 and 3 months after the first dose of vaccination and were then compared by repeated measures ANOVA to explore their dynamic changes.ResultsA retrospective study preliminarily observed that the trend of TRAB post-vaccination was opposite of that pre-vaccination (p=0.000), serum TRAB levels decreased before vaccination and increased after vaccination. In this prospective study, repeated measures ANOVA indicated significant differences in serum FT3 (p=0.000), FT4 (p=0.000), TSH (p=0.000), and TRAB (p=0.000) levels at different time points before and after vaccination. Serum TRAB levels showed dynamic changes that decreased significantly at 1 month before vaccination (p=0.000), no significant differences at 1 month after vaccination (p=0.583), and reflected an upward trend at 3 months after vaccination (p=0.034). Serum FT3 and FT4 levels showed similar trends to serum TRAB levels before and after vaccination. Instead, the serum TSH levels showed a continuous upward trend over time.ConclusionBased on the results obtained in both retrospective and prospective studies, we concluded that serum TRAB levels decreased less after inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and showed an upward trend, which may be related to humoral immunity induced by vaccination.

This paper presents a comprehensive experimental and numerical investigation on hysteretic behavior of thin-walled circular steel tubes as loaded members in reticulated shells. The experimental setup available for constant compression and biaxial bending loading was designed to examine the failure process, failure modes, load bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity of sixteen thin-walled circular steel tubes. Also, the effects of the loading condition, axial load ratio, slenderness and steel strength on hysteretic behavior of specimens were investigated. The study showed that test results of specimen loaded in two directions might overestimate hysteretic characteristic of this member. Premature local buckling may be caused by the high axial load ratio and the recommended axial load ratio may be n ≤ 0.2 to ensure the load bearing capacity, deformation capacity and ductility of circular steel tubes and to prevent the premature local buckling occurring in engineering practice. Slenderness affects the load bearing capacity, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of specimens, and with an increasing slenderness, the stiffness degraded considerably and quickly. Specimens with high strength steel exhibited higher load bearing capacity and better stiffness but lower energy dissipation capacity than those made by low strength steel. Furthermore, the nonlinear finite element analysis was performed to simulate hysteretic behavior of test specimens, and the results got a satisfactory agreement with those of test.

A magnetic field distribution of a inductor core subject to an orthogonal flux is presented. The conventional method is to calculate B and H respectively , assuming that both directions are parallel. Considering the phase difference between B and H under a semi-rotating field, the magnetic tensor permeability is defined and calculated .The new method is necessary in explaining the magnetization behavior in the orthogonal core of variable inductor.

Compared with the active filters, passive filters are widely used for their cheaper costs, simpler structures and more reliable performance. But conventional passive filters which consist of parameter-fixed capacitors and reactors can not remain good filtering performance in case the system frequency shifts or component parameters change. This thesis compares the advantages and disadvantages of two feasible control methods based on the research of a sort of passive filter using controllable reactor instead of parameter-fixed reactor. And then, an improved method is proposed and a self-optimizing algorithm is presented. Good performances of the filter are verified by experiments both in laboratory and at the locale of a use. The results prove the practical value of this control method.

Compared to the active filters, passive filters are widely used for their cheaper costs, simpler structures and more reliable performance. But conventional passive filters which consist of parameter-fixed capacitors and reactors can not remain good filtering performances in case of the system frequency shifts or components parameters change. This article compares the advantages and disadvantages of two feasible control methods, through researching a sort of passive filter using controllable reactor instead of parameter-fixed reactor, then improves them and implements a control method based on self-optimizing control. Good performances of the filter are verified by experiments both in laboratory and at the locale of use. These prove the practical value of this control method.