| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(author)
-
Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy
- 2012
-
In: Autophagy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1554-8635 .- 1554-8627. ; 8:4, s. 445-544
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.
|
|
| 3. |
- Hong, Yuanyuan, et al.
(author)
-
A Multi-Floor Arrayed Waveguide Grating Based Architecture with Grid Topology for Datacenter Networks
- 2020
-
In: IEEE Access. - 2169-3536 .- 2169-3536. ; 8, s. 107134-107145
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper proposes a grid topology based passive optical interconnect (POI) architecture that is composed of multiple floors of arrayed waveguide grating routers (AWGRs) to offer high connectivity and scalability for datacenter networks. In the proposed POI signal only needs to pass one AWGR, and thus can avoid the crosstalk accumulation and cascaded filtering effects, which exist in many existing POI architectures based on cascaded AWGRs. Meanwhile, due to high connectivity, the proposed grid topology based POI also has the potential advantage of high reliability. Simulation results validate the network performance. With a proper node degree, the proposed grid topology can achieve acceptable blocking probability. Besides, steady performance is kept when the number of floors increases, indicating good scalability of the proposed POI.
|
|
| 4. |
- Fang, Evandro F., et al.
(author)
-
A research agenda for ageing in China in the 21st century (2nd edition): Focusing on basic and translational research, long-term care, policy and social networks.
- 2020
-
In: Ageing Research Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 1568-1637. ; 64
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- One of the key issues facing public healthcare is the global trend of an increasingly ageing society which continues to present policy makers and caregivers with formidable healthcare and socio-economic challenges. Ageing is the primary contributor to a broad spectrum of chronic disorders all associated with a lower quality of life in the elderly. In 2019, the Chinese population constituted 18 % of the world population, with 164.5 million Chinese citizens aged 65 and above (65+), and 26 million aged 80 or above (80+). China has become an ageing society, and as it continues to age it will continue to exacerbate the burden borne by current family and public healthcare systems. Major healthcare challenges involved with caring for the elderly in China include the management of chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs), physical frailty, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, with emerging challenges such as providing sufficient dental care, combating the rising prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among nursing home communities, providing support for increased incidences of immune diseases, and the growing necessity to provide palliative care for the elderly. At the governmental level, it is necessary to make long-term strategic plans to respond to the pressures of an ageing society, especially to establish a nationwide, affordable, annual health check system to facilitate early diagnosis and provide access to affordable treatments. China has begun work on several activities to address these issues including the recent completion of the of the Ten-year Health-Care Reform project, the implementation of the Healthy China 2030 Action Plan, and the opening of the National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders. There are also societal challenges, namely the shift from an extended family system in which the younger provide home care for their elderly family members, to the current trend in which young people are increasingly migrating towards major cities for work, increasing reliance on nursing homes to compensate, especially following the outcomes of the ‘one child policy’ and the ‘empty-nest elderly’ phenomenon. At the individual level, it is important to provide avenues for people to seek and improve their own knowledge of health and disease, to encourage them to seek medical check-ups to prevent/manage illness, and to find ways to promote modifiable health-related behaviors (social activity, exercise, healthy diets, reasonable diet supplements) to enable healthier, happier, longer, and more productive lives in the elderly. Finally, at the technological or treatment level, there is a focus on modern technologies to counteract the negative effects of ageing. Researchers are striving to produce drugs that can mimic the effects of ‘exercising more, eating less’, while other anti-ageing molecules from molecular gerontologists could help to improve ‘healthspan’ in the elderly. Machine learning, ‘Big Data’, and other novel technologies can also be used to monitor disease patterns at the population level and may be used to inform policy design in the future. Collectively, synergies across disciplines on policies, geriatric care, drug development, personal awareness, the use of big data, machine learning and personalized medicine will transform China into a country that enables the most for its elderly, maximizing and celebrating their longevity in the coming decades. This is the 2nd edition of the review paper (Fang EF et al., Ageing Re. Rev. 2015).
|
|
| 5. |
- Chen, Guang, et al.
(author)
-
NeuroIV : Neuromorphic Vision Meets Intelligent Vehicle Towards Safe Driving With a New Database and Baseline Evaluations
- 2022
-
In: IEEE transactions on intelligent transportation systems (Print). - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1524-9050 .- 1558-0016. ; 23:2, s. 1171-1183
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Neuromorphic vision sensors such as the Dynamic and Active-pixel Vision Sensor (DAVIS) using silicon retina are inspired by biological vision, they generate streams of asynchronous events to indicate local log-intensity brightness changes. Their properties of high temporal resolution, low-bandwidth, lightweight computation, and low-latency make them a good fit for many applications of motion perception in the intelligent vehicle. However, as a younger and smaller research field compared to classical computer vision, neuromorphic vision is rarely connected with the intelligent vehicle. For this purpose, we present three novel datasets recorded with DAVIS sensors and depth sensor for the distracted driving research and focus on driver drowsiness detection, driver gaze-zone recognition, and driver hand-gesture recognition. To facilitate the comparison with classical computer vision, we record the RGB, depth and infrared data with a depth sensor simultaneously. The total volume of this dataset has 27360 samples. To unlock the potential of neuromorphic vision on the intelligent vehicle, we utilize three popular event-encoding methods to convert asynchronous event slices to event-frames and adapt state-of-the-art convolutional architectures to extensively evaluate their performances on this dataset. Together with qualitative and quantitative results, this work provides a new database and baseline evaluations named NeuroIV in cross-cutting areas of neuromorphic vision and intelligent vehicle.
|
|
| 6. |
- Liu, Yong, et al.
(author)
-
Deletion Of XIAP reduces the severity of acute pancreatitis via regulation of cell death and nuclear factor-kappa B activity
- 2017
-
In: Cell Death and Disease. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2041-4889. ; 8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) still remains a clinical challenge, not only for its high mortality but the uncontrolled inflammatory progression from acute pancreatitis (AP) to SAP. Cell death, including apoptosis and necrosis are critical pathology of AP, since the severity of pancreatitis correlates directly with necrosis and inversely with apoptosis Therefore, regulation of cell death from necrosis to apoptosis may have practicably therapeutic value. X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) is the best characterized member of the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAP) family, but its function in AP remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the potential role of XIAP in regulation of cell death and inflammation during acute pancreatitis. The in vivo pancreatitis model was induced by the administration of cerulein with or without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or by the administration of L-arginine in wild-type or XIAP-deficient mice, and ex vivo model was induced by the administration of cerulein+LPS in AR42J cell line following XIAP inhibition. The severity of acute pancreatitis was determined by serum amylase activity and histological grading. XIAP deletion on cell apoptosis, necrosis and inflammatory response were examined. Caspases activities, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) activation and receptor-interacting protein kinase1 (RIP1) degradation were assessed by western blot. Deletion of XIAP resulted in the reduction of amylase activity, decrease of NF-kappa B activation and less release of TNF-alpha and IL-6, together with increased caspases activities and RIP1 degradation, leading to enhanced apoptosis and reduced necrosis in pancreatic acinar cells and ameliorated the severity of acute pancreatitis. Our results indicate that deletion of XIAP switches cell death away from necrosis to apoptosis and decreases the inflammatory response, effectively attenuating the severity of AP/SAP. The critical role of XIAP in cell death and inflammation suggests that inhibition of XIAP represents a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of acute pancreatitis.
|
|
| 7. |
- Pang, Yun-Jie, et al.
(author)
-
Theoretical Study of the Catalytic Mechanism of the Cu-Only Superoxide Dismutase
- 2023
-
In: Journal of Physical Chemistry B. - 1520-6106 .- 1520-5207. ; 127:21, s. 4800-4807
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The catalytic mechanisms for the wild-type and the mutated Cu-only superoxide dismutase were studied using the hybrid density functional B3LYP and a quantum chemical cluster approach. Optimal protonation states of the active site were examined for each stage of the catalytic cycle. For both the reductive and the oxidative half-reactions, the arrival of the substrate O-2(center dot-) was found to be accompanied by a chargecompensating H+ with exergonicities of -15.4 kcal center dot mol and -4.7 kcal center dot mol, respectively. The second-sphere Glu-110 and first-sphere His-93 were suggested to be the transient protonation site for the reductive and the oxidative half-reactions, respectively, which collaborates with the hydrogen bonding water chain to position the substrate near the redox-active copper center. For the reductive half-reaction, the rate-limiting step was found to be the inner-sphere electron transfer from the partially coordinated O-2(center dot-) to Cu-II with a barrier of 8.1 kcal center dot mol. The formed O-2 is released from the active site with an exergonicity of -14.9 kcal center dot mol. For the oxidative half-reaction, the inner-sphere electron transfer from CuI to the partially coordinated O-2(center dot-) was found to be accompanied by the proton transfer from the protonated His-93 and barrierless. The rate-limiting step was found to be the second proton transfer from the protonated Glu-110 to HO2 with a barrier of 7.3 kcal center dot mol. The barriers are reasonably consistent with experimental activities, and a proton-transfer rate-limiting step in the oxidative half-reaction could explain the experimentally observed pH-dependence. For the E110Q CuSOD, Asp-113 was suggested to be likely to serve as the transient protonation site in the reductive half-reaction. The rate-limiting barriers were found to be 8.0 and 8.6 kcal center dot mol, respectively, which could explain the slightly lower performance of E110X mutants. The results were found to be stable, with respect to the percentage of exact exchange in B3LYP.
|
|
| 8. |
- Yang, Xi-Xi, et al.
(author)
-
Theoretical study of the mechanism of the manganese catalase KatB
- 2019
-
In: Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-8257 .- 1432-1327. ; 24:1, s. 103-115
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The mechanism of the H2O2 disproportionation catalyzed by the manganese catalase (MnCat) KatB was studied using the hybrid density functional theory B3LYP and the quantum chemical cluster approach. Compared to the previous mechanistic study at the molecular level for the Thermus thermophilus MnCat (TTC), more modern methodology was used and larger models of increasing sizes were employed with the help of the high-resolution X-ray structure. In the reaction pathway suggested for KatB using the Large chemical model, the O-O homolysis of the first substrate H2O2 occurs through a -(1):(1) coordination mode and requires a barrier of 10.9kcal/mol. In the intermediate state of the bond cleavage, two hydroxides form as terminal ligands of the dimanganese cluster at the Mn-2(III,III) oxidation state. One of the two Mn(III)-OH- moieties and a second-sphere tyrosine stabilize the second substrate H2O2 in the second-sphere of the active site via hydrogen bonding interactions. The H2O2, unbound to the metals, is first oxidized into HO2 through a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) step with a barrier of 9.5kcal/mol. After the system switches to the triplet surface, the uncoordinated HO2 replaces the product water terminally bound to the Mn(II) and is then oxidized into O-2 spontaneously. Transition states with structural similarities to those obtained for TTC, where -(2)-OH-/O2- groups play important roles, were found to be higher in energy.
|
|
| 9. |
- Bakic, Predrag R., et al.
(author)
-
Artifact reduction in simultaneous tomosynthesis and mechanical imaging of the breast
- 2019
-
In: Medical Imaging 2019 : Physics of Medical Imaging - Physics of Medical Imaging. - : SPIE. - 9781510625433 ; 10948
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mechanical imaging (MI) uses a pressure sensor array to estimate the stiffness of lesions. Recent clinical studies have suggested that MI combined with digital mammography may reduce false positive findings and negative biopsies by over 30%. Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has been adopted progressively in cancer screening. The tomographic nature of DBT improves lesion visibility by reducing tissue overlap in reconstructed images. For maximum benefit, DBT and MI data should be acquired simultaneously; however, that arrangement produces visible artifacts in DBT images due to the presence of the MI sensor array. We propose a method for reducing artifacts during the DBT image reconstruction. We modified the parameters of a commercial DBT reconstruction engine and investigated the conspicuity of artifacts in the resultant images produced with different sensor orientations. The method was evaluated using a physical anthropomorphic phantom imaged on top of the sensor. Visual assessment showed a reduction of artifacts. In a quantitative test, we calculated the artifact spread function (ASF), and compared the ratio of the mean ASF values between the proposed and conventional reconstruction (termed ASF ratio, RASF). We obtained a mean RASF of 2.74, averaged between two analyzed sensor orientations (45° and 90°). The performance varied with the orientation and the type of sensor structures causing the artifacts. RASF for wide connection lines was larger at 45° than at 90° (5.15 vs. 1.00, respectively), while for metallic contacts RASF was larger at 90° than at 45° (3.31 vs. 2.21, respectively). Future work will include a detailed quantitative assessment, and further method optimization in virtual clinical trials.
|
|
| 10. |
- Bakic, Predrag R., et al.
(author)
-
Pre-processing for image quality improvement in simultaneous DBT and mechanical imaging
- 2020
-
In: Medical Imaging 2020 : Physics of Medical Imaging - Physics of Medical Imaging. - : SPIE. - 1605-7422. - 9781510633919 ; 11312
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Simultaneous digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and mechanical imaging (MI) offer the potential to combine anatomic information from DBT with functional information from MI. This makes it possible to associate tissue stiffness with specific anatomic structures in the breast, a combination that can reduce false-positive findings by using the MI data to discriminate between ambiguous lesions in DBT. This, in turn, will reduce the frequency of negative biopsies. Simultaneous imaging requires that the MI sensor array be present during DBT acquisition. This introduces artifacts, since the sensor is attenuating. Previously, we demonstrated that the DBT reconstruction could be modified to reduce sensor conspicuity in DBT images. In this paper, we characterize the relative attenuation of the breast and the sensor, to calculate the artifact reduction in DBT reconstruction. We concentrate on pre-processing DBT projections prior to reconstruction. Using commercially available a DBT system, we have confirmed that the sensor array does not completely attenuate the x-rays. This suggests that a pre-processing method based upon flat fielding can be used to reduce artifacts. In a proof-of-concept study, we performed flat fielding by combining DBT projections of the MI sensor with and without an anthropomorphic breast phantom. Visual evaluation confirmed substantially improved image quality. The artifacts were reduced throughout the image for all sensor elements. Few residual artifacts are noticeable where the phantom thickness decreases. The investigation of additional pre-processing, including beam hardening correction is ongoing. Future work includes quantitative validation, noise stabilization, and method optimization in virtual clinical trials and subsequent patient studies.
|
|
| 11. |
- Chen, Guang, et al.
(author)
-
EDDD : Event-Based Drowsiness Driving Detection Through Facial Motion Analysis With Neuromorphic Vision Sensor
- 2020
-
In: IEEE Sensors Journal. - : IEEE. - 1530-437X .- 1558-1748. ; 20:11, s. 6170-6181
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Drowsiness driving is a principal factor of many fatal traffic accidents. This paper presents the first event-based drowsiness driving detection (EDDD) system by using the recently developed neuromorphic vision sensor. Compared with traditional frame-based cameras, neuromorphic vision sensors, such as Dynamic Vision Sensors (DVS), have a high dynamic range and do not acquire full images at a fixed frame rate but rather have independent pixels that output intensity changes (called events) asynchronously at the time they occur. Since events are generated by moving edges in the scene, DVS is considered as an efficient and effective detector for the drowsiness driving-related motions. Based on this unique output, this work first proposes a highly efficient method to recognize and localize the driver's eyes and mouth motions from event streams. We further design and extract event-based drowsiness-related features directly from the event streams caused by eyes and mouths motions, then the EDDD model is established based on these features. Additionally, we provide the EDDD dataset, the first public dataset dedicated to event-based drowsiness driving detection. The EDDD dataset has 260 recordings in daytime and evening with several challenging scenes such as subjects wearing glasses/sunglasses. Experiments are conducted based on this dataset and demonstrate the high efficiency and accuracy of our method under different illumination conditions. As the first investigation of the usage of DVS in drowsiness driving detection applications, we hope that this work will inspire more event-based drowsiness driving detection research.
|
|
| 12. |
- Chen, Guang, et al.
(author)
-
NeuroAED : Towards Efficient Abnormal Event Detection in Visual Surveillance With Neuromorphic Vision Sensor
- 2021
-
In: IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1556-6013 .- 1556-6021. ; 16, s. 923-936
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Abnormal event detection is an important task in research and industrial applications, which has received considerable attention in recent years. Existing methods usually rely on standard frame-based cameras to record the data and process them with computer vision technologies. In contrast, this paper presents a novel neuromorphic vision based abnormal event detection system. Compared to the frame-based camera, neuromorphic vision sensors, such as Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS), do not acquire full images at a fixed frame rate but rather have independent pixels that output intensity changes (called events) asynchronously at the time they occur. Thus, it avoids the design of the encryption scheme. Since events are triggered by moving edges on the scene, DVS is a natural motion detector for the abnormal objects and automatically filters out any temporally-redundant information. Based on this unique output, we first propose a highly efficient method based on the event density to select activated event cuboids and locate the foreground. We design a novel event-based multiscale spatio-temporal descriptor to extract features from the activated event cuboids for the abnormal event detection. Additionally, we build the NeuroAED dataset, the first public dataset dedicated to abnormal event detection with neuromorphic vision sensor. The NeuroAED dataset consists of four sub-datasets: Walking, Campus, Square, and Stair dataset. Experiments are conducted based on these datasets and demonstrate the high efficiency and accuracy of our method.
|
|
| 13. |
- Chen, Ke-Ling, et al.
(author)
-
Effects of Tocilizumab on Experimental Severe Acute Pancreatitis and Associated Acute Lung Injury
- 2016
-
In: Critical Care Medicine. - : LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS. - 0090-3493 .- 1530-0293. ; 44:8, s. E664-E677
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: To examine the therapeutic effects of tocilizumab, an antibody against interleukin-6 receptor, on experimental severe acute pancreatitis and associated acute lung injury. The optimal dose of tocilizumab and the activation of interleukin-6 inflammatory signaling were also investigated. Design: Randomized experiment. Setting: Research laboratory at a university hospital. Subject: Experimental severe acute pancreatitis in rats. Interventions: Severe acute pancreatitis was induced by retrograde injection of sodium taurocholate (50 mg/kg) into the biliopancreatic duct. In dose-study, rats were administered with different doses of tocilizumab (1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 mg/kg) through the tail vein after severe acute pancreatitis induction. In safety-study, rats without severe acute pancreatitis induction were treated with high doses of tocilizumab (8, 16, 32, and 64 mg/kg). Serum and tissue samples of rats in time-study were collected for biomolecular and histologic evaluations at different time points (2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 hr). Measurements and Main Results: 1) Under the administration of tocilizumab, histopathological scores of pancreas and lung were decreased, and severity parameters related to severe acute pancreatitis and associated lung injury, including serum amylase, C-reactive protein, lung surfactant protein level, and myeloperoxidase activity, were all significant alleviated in rat models. 2) Dose-study demonstrated that 2 mg/kg tocilizumab was the optimal treatment dose. 3) Basing on multi-organ pathologic evaluation, physiological and biochemical data, no adverse effect and toxicity of tocilizumab were observed in safety-study. 4) Pancreatic nuclear factor-kappa B and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 were deactivated, and the serum chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 was down-regulated after tocilizumab administration. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated tocilizumab, as a marketed drug commonly used for immune-mediated diseases, was safe and effective for the treatment of experimental severe acute pancreatitis and associated acute lung injury. Our findings provide experimental evidences for potential clinical application of tocilizumab in severe acute pancreatitis and associated complications.
|
|
| 14. |
- Chen, Zhi, et al.
(author)
-
Large-Area Crystalline Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Thin Films
- 2021
-
In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition. - : Wiley. - 1433-7851 .- 1521-3773. ; 60:25, s. 14124-14130
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report that continuous MOF films with highly controlled thickness (from 44 to 5100 nm) can be deposited over length scales greater than 80 centimeters by a facile, fast, and cost-effective spray-coating method. Such success relies on our discovery of unprecedented perfectly dispersed colloidal solutions consisting of amorphous MOF nanoparticles, which we adopted as precursors that readily converted to the crystalline films upon low-temperature in situ heating. The colloidal solutions allow for the fabrication of compact and uniform MOF films on a great deal of substrates such as fluorine-doped tin oxide, glass, SiO2, Al2O3, Si, Cu, and even flexible polycarbonate, widening their technological applications where substrates are essential. Despite the present work focuses on the fabrication of uniform cobalt-(2-methylimidazole)2 and zinc-(2-methylimidazole)2 films, our findings mark a great possibility in producing other high-quality MOF thin films on a large scale.
|
|
| 15. |
- Chen, Zheng wei, et al.
(author)
-
Reducing the aerodynamic drag of high-speed trains by air blowing from the nose part: Effect of blowing speed
- 2023
-
In: Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. - 0167-6105. ; 238
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To reduce the aerodynamic drag of high-speed trains, this work proposes an air blowing configuration on the head and tail cars of high-speed trains. The variation in the aerodynamic drag and slipstream velocity is analyzed under different blowing velocities, and the flow mechanism for train aerodynamic performance alteration is explained. The results show that under the blowing speeds of Ub = 0.05Ut, 0.10Ut, 0.15Ut, and 0.20Ut, where Ut is the train speed, the total drag coefficient (Cd) decreases by 5.81%, 10.78%, 13.70%, and 15.43% compared to the without-blowing case, respectively. However, with the increase in the blowing speed, the reduction trend of Cd tends to be smoother; namely, the decrement ratio compared to the previous blowing speed for the head car is 9.08%, 0.11%, 0.60%, and 1.14% for Ub = 0.05Ut, 0.10Ut, 0.15Ut, and 0.20Ut, respectively. The blowing measure generates an air gap between the coming flow and train surface, consequently causing a reduction in the viscous and pressure drag. In addition, the structure size and strength of the wake flow under different blowing cases show a decreasing trend from Ub = 0.00Ut to 0.10Ut and then an increasing trend from Ub = 0.10Ut to 0.20Ut. Thus, considering the blowing cost, efficiency, and flow structure evolution comprehensively, the case of Ub = 0.10Ut is recommended. Under this blowing speed, the reduction ratio of the aerodynamic drag is 9.18%, 12.77%, 10.90%, and 10.78% for the head, middle, tail car, and total train, respectively.
|
|
| 16. |
- Hellgren, Gustav, et al.
(author)
-
Evaluation of digital breast tomosynthesis systems
- 2020
-
In: Medical Imaging 2020 : Physics of Medical Imaging - Physics of Medical Imaging. - : SPIE. - 1605-7422. - 9781510633919 ; 11312
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study, two digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) systems were evaluated: Siemens Mammomat Inspiration TOMO (Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany) and GE Senographe Pristina (GE, Buc, France). Along with differences such as angular range and detectors type, the systems use different reconstruction algorithms. One was available for the GE system, based on iterative reconstruction (IR). Two algorithms were available for the Siemens system: TOMO_STANDARD, using filtered back projection (FBP) and EMPIRE, FBP with statistically based artifact reduction. Two commercially available DBT phantoms (CIRS model 020 & 021), with heterogeneous and homogenous background respectively, were used to calculate signal-difference-to-noise-ratio (SDNR) in key structures for varying phantom thickness (30, 45 & 70 mm) and average glandular dose (AGD). Key phantom structures include calcifications and lesion masses of different sizes. Results show a positive correlation between SDNR and AGD except for the EMPIRE algorithm where there was a negative SDNR/AGD trend for one of the microcalcification specks in the heterogeneous phantom. The highest overall SDNR was acquired using the EMPIRE algorithm. Both systems are well within the recommended dose limits but could increase their dose levels in order to achieve higher SDNR. This indicates that there may be room for dose optimization in DBT systems used in screening programs, confirming the importance of continuous evaluation and optimization.
|
|
| 17. |
- Hou, Qiong, et al.
(author)
-
A triphenylamine-based four-armed molecule for solution-processed organic solar cells with high photo-voltage
- 2013
-
In: JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2050-7488 .- 2050-7496. ; 1:16, s. 4937-4940
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A new four-armed molecule Th-4(DTPAB) with a triphenylamine-benzothiadiazole-triphenylamine unit as the core and 4-hexylthiophene as arms was synthesized. Solution-processed organic solar cells based on blends of Th-4(DTPAB) and PC71BM demonstrate a power conversion efficiency of 3.18% with a high open circuit voltage of 0.96 V.
|
|
| 18. |
- Liu, Yong, et al.
(author)
-
Resolvin D1 protects against inflammation in experimental acute pancreatitis and associated lung injury
- 2016
-
In: American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. - : AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC. - 0193-1857 .- 1522-1547. ; 310:5, s. G303-G309
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition that may lead to multisystemic organ failure with considerable mortality. Recently, resolvin D1 (RvD1) as an endogenous anti-inflammatory lipid mediator has been confirmed to protect against many inflammatory diseases. This study was designed to investigate the effects of RvD1 in acute pancreatitis and associated lung injury. Acute pancreatitis varying from mild to severe was induced by cerulein or cerulein combined with LPS, respectively. Mice were pretreated with RvD1 at a dose of 300 ng/mouse 30 min before the first injection of cerulein. Severity of AP was assessed by biochemical markers and histology. Serum cytokines and myeloperoxidase (MPO) levels in pancreas and lung were determined for assessing the extent of inflammatory response. NF-kappa B activation was determined by Western blotting. The injection of cerulein or cerulein combined with LPS resulted in local injury in the pancreas and corresponding systemic inflammatory changes with pronounced severity in the cerulein and LPS group. Pretreated RvD1 significantly reduced the degree of amylase, lipase, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 serum levels; the MPO activities in the pancreas and the lungs; the pancreatic NF-kappa B activation; and the severity of pancreatic injury and associated lung injury, especially in the severe acute pancreatitis model. These results suggest that RvD1 is capable of improving injury of pancreas and lung and exerting anti-inflammatory effects through the inhibition of NF-kappa B activation in experimental acute pancreatitis, with more notable protective effect in severe acute pancreatitis. These findings indicate that RvD1 may constitute a novel therapeutic strategy in the management of severe acute pancreatitis.
|
|
| 19. |
- Qian, Li-Bing, et al.
(author)
-
Transmission of electrons through the conical glass capillary with the grounded conducting outer surface
- 2017
-
In: Wuli xuebao. - : Acta Physica Sinica, Chinese Physical Society and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. - 1000-3290. ; 66:12
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The transmission of 1.5 keV-electrons through a conical glass capillary is reported. This study aims to understand the so-called guiding effect for the negatively charged particles (e.g. electrons). The guiding mechanism is understood quite well with positively charged particles in particular highly charged ions, but not clear with electrons, i. e., even the basic scheme mediated by the existence of negative charge patches to guide the electrons is still somewhat controversial.. The study of the charging-up dynamics causing the electrons transport inside the capillary will shed light on this issue. In order to perform this, a data acquisition system has been setup to follow the time evolution of the two-dimensional angular distribution of the transmitted electrons. The electrons are detected by the multi-channel plate (MCP) detector with a phosphor screen. The image from the phosphor screen is recorded by a charge-coupled device camera. The timing signals for the detected events are extracted from the back stack of the MCP detector and recorded by the data acquisition system, synchronized with the acquired images. The electron beam has a size of 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm and a divergence of less than 0.35.. The inner diameter of the straight part of the capillary is 1.2 mm and the exit diameter is 225 mu m. A small conducting aperture of 0.3 mm in diameter is placed at the entrance of the capillary. Two-dimensional angular distribution of the transmitted electrons through conical glass capillary and its time evolution are measured. The results show that the transmission rate decreases and reaches to a constant value for the completely discharged glass capillary with time going by. The centroid of the angular distribution moves to an asymptotic value while the width remains unchanged. These transmission characteristics are different from those indicated in our previous work (2016 Acta Phys: Si n: 65 204103). The difference originates from the different manipulations of the capillary outer surface. A conducting layer is coated on the outer surface of the capillary and grounded in this work. This isolates various discharge/charge channels and forms a new stable discharge channel. The transmission rate as a function of the tilt angle shows that the allowed transmission occurs at the tilt angle limited by the geometrical factors, i. e., the geometrical opening angle given by the aspect ratio as well as the beam divergence. The transmission characteristics suggest that most likely there are formed no negative patches to facilitate the electron transmission through the glass capillary at this selected beam energy. It is different from that of highly charged ions, where the formation of the charge patches prohibits the close collisions between the following ions and guides them out of the capillary.
|
|
| 20. |
- Wan, Cheng-Liang, et al.
(author)
-
Dynamics of slow electrons transmitting through straight glass capillary and tapered glass capillary
- 2016
-
In: Wuli xuebao. - : Acta Physica Sinica, Chinese Physical Society and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. - 1000-3290. ; 65:20
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It has been found that the transmission rate of the electrons through insulating capillaries as a function of time/incident charge is not the same as that of the ions. The question arises that by using the electrons, if the negative charge patches can be formed to facilitate the transmission of the following electrons, thereby substantiating that the so-called guiding effect works also for electrons. This study aims to observe the time evolutions of the transmission of electrons through a straight glass tube and a tapered glass capillary. This will reveal the details of how and (or) if the negative charge patches can be formed when the electrons transport through them. In this work, a set of MCP/phosphor two-dimensional detection system based on Labview platform is developed to obtain the time evolution of the angular distribution of the transmitted electrons. The pulsed electron beams are obtained to test our detection system. The time evolution of the angular profile of 1.5 keV electrons transmitting through the glass tube/capillary is observed. The transmitted electrons are observed on the detector for a very short time and disappear for a time and then appear again for both the glass tube and tapered glass capillary, leading to an oscillation. The positive charge patches are formed in the insulating glass tube and tapered glass capillary since the secondary electron emission coefficient for the incident energy is larger than 1. It is due to the fact that fast discharge of the deposited charge leads to the increase of the transmission rate, while the fast blocking of the incident electrons due to the deposited positive charge leads to the decrease of the transmission rate. The geometrical configuration of the taper glass capillary tends to make the secondary electrons deposited at the exit part to form the negative patches that facilitate the transmission of electrons. This suggests that if the stable transmission needs to be reached for producing the electron micro-beam by using tapered glass capillaries, the steps must be taken to have the proper grounding and shielding of the glass capillaries and tubes. Our results show a difference in transmission through the insulating capillary between electrons and highly charged ions.
|
|
| 21. |
- Wang, Chao-Jie, et al.
(author)
-
Clinicopathological significance of microRNA-31, -143 and -145 expression in colorectal cancer
- 2009
-
In: Disease Markers. - 0278-0240 .- 1875-8630. ; 26:1, s. 27-34
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We are just beginning to understand how microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in tumor-related processes in humans. Applying real-time RT-PCR, we investigated the miR-31, miR-143 and miR-145 expression in 98 primary CRC specimens, along with the corresponding normal mucosa specimens, and analyze the relationship of their expression with clinicopathological features. Our results showed the miR-31 expression was up-regulated in CRC compared to normal mucosa (p = 0.001). Furthermore, miR-31 expression was positively related to advanced TNM stage (p = 0.026) and deeper invasion of tumors (p = 0.024). MiR-145 was down-regulated in both colon (p = 0.001) and rectal (p = 0.012) cancer. MiR-143 was only down-regulated in colon cancer (p = 0.023) but not in rectal cancer (p = 0.351). There was no relationship of miR-143 and miR-145 expression with other clinicopathological features (p > 0.05), except that the miR-145 expression was related to cancer site (p = 0.03). In conclusion, the miR-31 overexpression may be involved in the development and progression of CRC. The miR-143 and miR-145 may play a certain role in the development of colon and/or rectal cancers but not in progression of the disease.
|
|
