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Objective: To investigate the effects of acupotomy on skeletal muscle fibrosis and collagen deposition in a rabbit knee osteoarthritis (KOA) model. Methods: Rabbits (n = 18) were randomly divided into control, KOA, and KOA + acupotomy (Apo) groups (n = 6). The rabbits in the KOA and Apo groups were modeled using the modified Videman's method for 6 weeks. After modeling, the Apo group was subjected to acupotomy once a week for 3 weeks on the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, biceps femoris, and anserine bursa tendons around the knee. The behavior of all animals was recorded, rectus femoris tissue was obtained, and histomorphological changes were observed using Masson staining and transmission electron microscopy. The expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), Smad 3, Smad 7, fibrillar collagen types I (Col-I) and III (Col-III) was detected using Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: Histological analysis revealed that acupotomy improved the microstructure and reduced the collagen volume fraction of rectus femoris, compared with the KOA group (P = .034). Acupotomy inhibited abnormal collagen deposition by modulating the expression of fibrosis-related proteins and mRNA, thus preventing skeletal muscle fibrosis. Western blot and RT-PCR analysis revealed that in the Apo group, Col-I, and Col-III protein levels were significantly lower than those in the KOA group (both P

Objective: To investigate whether acupotomy could inhibit subchondral bone remodeling in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) rabbits by regulating the activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Methods: KOA rabbits were prepared by immobilization for 6 and 9 weeks by Videman method. Nine groups of rabbits (control, 6 weeks and 9 weeks model, 6 weeks and 9 weeks acupotomy, 6 weeks and 9 weeks electroacupuncture, and 6 weeks and 9 weeks drug groups) received acupotomy, electroacupuncture and risedronate sodium intervention, respectively, for 3 weeks. Results: Acupotomy can inhibit the activity of osteoclasts and osteoblasts in subchondral bone by reducing the proteins expression of cathepsin K (CK) and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and decreasing the proteins expression of osteocalcin (OCN) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), to intercept the abnormal bone resorption and bone formation of subchondral bone in 6-week and 9-week immobilization-induced KOA rabbits. Conclusion: These findings indicated that acupotomy may be more advantageous than risedronate sodium intervention in modulating subchondral bone remodeling in KOA rabbits, especially in 9-week immobilization-induced KOA rabbits.

Background: There is a large group of deaf-mutes in the world, and sign language is their major communication tool. Therefore, it’s necessary for the deaf-mutes to communicate with hearing-speech people and the hearing-speech people also have needed to understand sign language, which produces a great demand for sign language teaching. Even though there have already been a large number of books for sign language, it is low efficient to learn sign language with books, even teaching videos. To solve this problem, we develop a smartphone-based interactive Chinese sign language teaching systemfor sign language learning. Methods: The system provides a learner with some kinds of learning modes and captures the learner’s actions from its front camera of the smartphone. Right now the system provides a vocabulary set with 1000 frequently used words, and the learner can evaluate his/her sign action by subjective or objective comparison. In the mode of word recognition, the users can play any word within the vocabulary and the system will turn the top three retrieved candidates, so it can remind the learners what the sign is. Results: This system provides interactive learning for a user to learn sign language high efficiently. The systemadopts an algorithm based on point cloud recognition to evaluate a user’s sign and costs about 700ms inference time for each sample, which meets the real-time requirements. Conclusion: This interactive learning system decreases the communication barriers between the deaf-mutes and hearing-speechers.

The watershed-scale distribution and loss of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) through soil erosion from slope lands to a watershed has not yet been systematically studied, especially in small mountain watersheds with high geological background PTEs in Southwest China. In this study, the spatial distribution, loss intensities and ecological risks of 12 PTEs were investigated in 101 soil samples from four types of land use in a typical watershed, Guizhou Province. Moreover, in order to avoid over- or underestimation of the contamination level in such specific geologies with significant variability in natural PTE distribution, the local background values (local BVs) were calculated by statistical methods. The dry arable land had the highest loss intensity of PTEs and was the largest contributor of PTEs (more than 80%) in the watershed, even though it covers a much smaller area compared to the forest land. The loss of Cd, As, Sb, and Hg from slope arable lands into the watershed leads to a relatively high potential ecological risk. The study suggested that both PTEs content with different types of land-uses and intensities of soil loss are of great importance for PTEs’ risk assessment in the small watershed within a high geological background region. Furthermore, in order to reduce the loss of PTEs in soil, the management of agricultural activities in arable land, especially the slope arable land, is necessary.

Several studies have found that the decrease of photovoltaic (PV) cell temperature would increase the solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency. Water type PV/thermal (PV/T) system was a good choice but it could become freezing in cold areas of Northern China. This paper proposed a simple combination of common-used PV panel and heat pipe, called PV-heat pipe (PV-HP) solar collector, for both electrical and thermal energy generation. A simplified one-dimensional steady state model was developed to study the electrical and thermal performance of the PV-HP solar collector under different solar radiations, water flow rates, and water temperatures at the inlet of manifold. A testing rig was conducted to verify the model and the testing data matched very well with the simulation values. The results indicated that the thermal efficiency could be minus in the afternoon. The thermal and electrical efficiencies decreased linearly as the inlet water temperature and water flow rate increased. The thermal efficiency increased while the electrical efficiency decreased linearly as the solar radiation increased.