This paper presents the research on the evolution of shear transformation zone (STZ) in a Pd-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) during serrated flow under nanoindentation. A novel method of estimating ...the STZ volume through statistical analysis of the serrated flow behavior was proposed for the first time. Based on the proposed method, the STZ volume of the studied BMG at various peak loads have been systematically investigated. The results indicate that the measured STZ volumes are in good agreement with that documented in literature, and the STZ size exhibits an increasing trend during indentation. Moreover, the correlation between the serrated flow dynamics and the STZ activation has also been evaluated. It is found that the STZ activation can promote the formation of self-organized critical (SOC) state during serrated flow.
•A novel method was proposed to estimate the volume of shear transformation zone (STZ) in bulk metallic glass through statistical analysis of the serration behavior in nanoindentation.•It was found that the STZ size exhibits an increasing trend during nanoindentation.•The STZ activation can promote the formation of self-organized critical (SOC) phenomena during serrated flow.
Background
The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical efficacy and safety of superselective embolization of the superior rectal artery (SRA) for the treatment of internal hemorrhoidal ...bleeding.
Methods
Patients with stage II and stage III internal hemorrhoids, treated by interventional embolization of the SRA in our department between January 2017 and June 2019 were retrospectively evaluated. All patients suffering from disabling chronic hematochezia and some with relative contraindications for operation (
n
= 17) or rejection of conventional hemorrhoidectomy (
n
= 15). Superselective SRA branch embolization was performed using gelatin sponge particles (350–560 μm) and metallic coils (2–3 mm). This treatment process was planned by a multidisciplinary team consisting of proctologist, gastroenterologist and radiologist. The surgical efficacy, postoperative complications and follow-up outcomes were observed.
Results
There were 32 patients (18 males, mean age 52 ± 12 years, range: 22–78 years), 12 (37%) with stage II hemorrhoids and 20 (63%) with stage III hemorrhoids. Embolization was successful in all patients, and bleeding symptoms resolved in 27 (84.4%) patients. The remaining 5 (15.6%) patients underwent either stapled hemorrhoidopexy (
n
= 4) or sclerotherapy (
n
= 1). Some patients experienced different degrees of pain (
n
= 4;12.5%), low fever (
n
= 11;34.4%), and tenesmus (
n
= 17;53.1%), which all spontaneously regressed without further treatment. All patients were followed up for at least 1 year. There were no serious complications, such as infection, intestinal ischemia or massive hemorrhage. Four patients (14.8%) had rebleeding during the first months of follow-up. All patients with re-bleeding were successfully treated with internal iliac arteriography and branch embolization and did not experience further bleeds after a minimum follow up 3 months follow-up.
Conclusions
The short-term efficacy of superselective SRA embolization for grade II–III internal hemorrhoids is good, and this method is safe and feasible.
We have found that the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway exerts exquisite control of osteoblast differentiation and bone formation in vitro and in vivo in rodents. Structurally different inhibitors that ...bind to specific catalytic beta subunits of the 20S proteasome stimulated bone formation in bone organ cultures in concentrations as low as 10 nM. When administered systemically to mice, the proteasome inhibitors epoxomicin and proteasome inhibitor-1 increased bone volume and bone formation rates over 70% after only 5 days of treatment. Since the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway has been shown to modulate expression of the Drosophila homologue of the bone morphogenetic protein-2 and -4 (BMP-2 and BMP-4) genes, we examined the effects of noggin, an endogenous inhibitor of BMP-2 and BMP-4 on bone formation stimulated by these compounds and found that it was abrogated. These compounds increased BMP-2 but not BMP-4 or BMP-6 mRNA expression in osteoblastic cells, suggesting that BMP-2 was responsible for the observed bone formation that was inhibited by noggin. We show proteasome inhibitors regulate BMP-2 gene expression at least in part through inhibiting the proteolytic processing of Gli3 protein. Our results suggest that the ubiquitin-proteasome machinery regulates osteoblast differentiation and bone formation and that inhibition of specific components of this system may be useful therapeutically in common diseases of bone loss.
To investigate the diagnostic efficiency and clinical application value of an artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis model based on a three-dimensional convolutional neural network (3D CNN) on ...echocardiographic videos of patients with hypertensive heart disease, chronic renal failure (CRF) and hypothyroidism with cardiac involvement.
This study is a retrospective study. The patients with hypertensive heart disease, CRF and hypothyroidism with cardiac involvement, who admitted in Henan Provincial People's Hospital from April 2019 to October 2021, were enrolled. Patients were divided into hypertension group, CRF group, and hypothyroidism group. Additionally, a simple random sampling method was used to select control healthy individuals, who underwent physical examination at the same period. The echocardiographic video data of enrolled participants were analyzed. The video data in each group was divided into a training set and an independent testing set in a ratio of 5 to 1. The temporal and spatial characte
We propose and describe our realization of a deeply subwavelength optical lattice for ultracold neutral atoms using
resonantly Raman-coupled internal degrees of freedom. Although counterpropagating ...lasers with wavelength
provided two-photon Raman coupling, the resultant lattice period was
/2
, an
-fold reduction as compared to the conventional
/2 lattice period. We experimentally demonstrated this lattice built from the three
= 1 Zeeman states of a
Rb Bose-Einstein condensate, and generated a lattice with a
/6 = 132 nm period from
= 790 nm lasers. Lastly, we show that adding an additional rf-coupling field converts this lattice into a superlattice with
wells uniformly spaced within the original
/2 unit cell.
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of leflunomide in the treatment of proliferative lupus nephritis, a prospective multi-centre observational study was conducted. Patients with biopsy proven ...proliferative lupus nephritis were assigned to receive either leflunomide or cyclophosphamide with concomitant prednisone. Leflunomide was given orally with a loading dose of 1 mg/kg/day for 3 days followed by 30 mg/day. Intravenous cyclophosphamide was administered monthly at a dose of 0.5 g/m2 of body-surface area. A total of 110 patients were enrolled, 70 in the leflunomide group and 40 in the cyclophosphamide group. The complete remission rate in the leflunomide group was 21% and partial remission rate 52%, as compared with 18% and 55%, respectively, in the cyclophosphamide group. Renal parameters and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index improved significantly and similarly in both groups. Serum creatinine decreased or stabilized in both treatment groups. No significant difference was noted with respect to clinical outcome between groups. Repeat biopsy also showed a significant reduction of active lesions in kidney pathology after 6 months of leflunomide treatment. Major adverse events, similar in both treatment groups, included infection, alopecia and hypertension. Leflunomide, compared with cyclophosphamide, in combination with prednisone was effective in the induction therapy of proliferative lupus nephritis and was generally well-tolerated.
The effects of in ovo feeding (IOF) of creatine pyruvate (CrPyr) on the hatchability, growth performance and energy status of embryos and broilers (Arbor Acres) were investigated. Five treatments ...were arranged as non-injected treatment (Control), 0.6 ml physiological saline (0.75%) injected treatment (Saline), and IOF treatments injected with 0.6 ml physiological saline (0.75%) containing 3, 6 or 12 mg CrPyr (CrPyr3, CrPyr6 or CrPyr12) into the amnion per fertile egg on day 17.5 of incubation. After hatching, 80 male chicks from each treatment with similar weight close to the average BW of their pooled group were selected and randomly assigned into eight replicates of 10 chicks each. The results showed that the hatchability was not affected among groups, whereas the hatching weight of broilers in CrPyr12 was significantly higher than the control and saline groups (P0.05). Irrespective of dosage, the concentrations of creatine and phosphocreatine, and activities of creatine kinase in embryos were enhanced in CrPyr treatments at 19 E when compared with the control and saline groups (P<0.05). The activities of glucose-6-phosphatase in liver in CrPyr6 and CrPyr12 treatments were higher than the control and saline groups at 19 E (P<0.05). In conclusion, these results indicated that IOF of CrPyr, especially at the level of 12 mg/egg, could improve energy status of embryos and hatchlings, which was useful for enhancing hatching weight, BW and pectoral muscle weight until the end of the experiments at 21 days post-hatch in broilers.
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