The aim of this study is to share our experience in the prenatal diagnosis of omphalocele by karyotyping, chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) and whole exome sequencing (WES).
In this retrospective ...study, 81 cases of omphalocele were identified from 2015 to 2020. Associated anomalies and prenatal diagnosis based on karyotyping, CMA and WES were analysed.
Fifty-eight (71.6%) of the 81 foetuses had other ultrasound anomalies. Giant omphalocele was present in 11 cases (13.6%) and small omphalocele was present in 70 cases (86.4%). Chromosomal abnormalities were found in 24 foetuses (29.6%, 24/81), the most common of which were trisomy 18 (58.8%, 11/24) and trisomy 13 (29.2%, 7/24). Compared to isolated omphalocele, non-isolated omphalocele was accompanied by an increased prevalence of chromosomal abnormalities (4.3% (1/23) vs. 39.7% (23/58), χ
2
= 8.226, p = .004). All chromosomal abnormalities were found in small omphalocele. Aside from aneuploidy, CMA showed one pathogenic copy number variants (CNVs) for a detection rate of 1.2%, one variants of unknown significance (VOUS) and one instance of loss of heterozygosity (LOH). WES was performed on 3 non-isolated cases, and one was found to have pathogenic variants.
The most common genetic cause of omphalocele is aneuploidy and the prevalence of chromosomal abnormalities is increased with non-isolated and small omphalocele. CMA and WES can be useful for providing further genetic information to assist in prenatal counselling and pregnancy management.
Latent heat storage has higher energy density, but most phase change materials (PCMs) have low thermal conductivity. Current research focuses on conduction dominated heat transfer mechanism to ...increase the heat transfer performance. However, convection also has important effects on promoting PCM melting and solidification processes. Therefore, an active stirring method with conduction dominated heat transfer mechanism was studied. A shell storage with stirrer inside was constructed and tested. Paraffin was selected as the PCM; the heat transfer fluid (HTF) was water. The results show that average charging rate increased by 32.23 J/s than that without stirring, and the average discharging rate increased by 47.39 J/s. Completion time for charging/discharging with stirring was shortened by 9.61% and 48.61% than that without stirring. In the charging process, the average power of motor was 16.08 W, and the average discharging rate was greater than 500 J/s, accounting for less than 3.2%. In the discharging process, the average power consumption of the motor accounted for less than 5.2% of the discharging rate. It may be considered that convection dominated heat transfer mechanism can effectively improve phase-change heat transfer performance with lower active power consumption
Drug-induced injury has attracted increasing attention in public health issues. Among them, hepatotoxicity has been regarded as the leading clinical problem caused by drug toxicity. However, owing to ...the complexity of the involved pathophysiological mechanisms and the lack of noninvasive, straightforward, and real-time tools, drug-induced hepatotoxicity has rarely been predicted satisfactorily. In this paper, by utilizing the reactive species peroxynitrite (ONOO
) as a biomarker, we present a two-photon fluorescent probe,
, holding rapid response, high specificity and sensitivity towards ONOO
, to investigate drug (acetaminophen and tolcapone)-related liver injury and the remediate effect of
-acetyl cysteine (NAC). With the support of
, we obtained direct and visual evidence of the upregulation of ONOO
during drug challenge both in live cells and mice, which was accompanied by liver tissue injury and tyrosine nitration. These findings demonstrate that ONOO
is a good and appropriate biomarker of hepatotoxicity, and nitrosative stress may be necessary for acetaminophen and tolcapone to exert their toxicity. Moreover,
can be employed as a powerful tool to pre-detect drug-induced organism injury and study the effect of antidotes.
Hydrogen peroxide, an important biomolecule, receives earnest attention because of its physiological and pathological functions. In this Article, we present the rational design, characterization, and ...biological application of a mitochondria-targetable NIR fluorescent sensor, Mito-NIRHP, for hydrogen peroxide visualization. Mito-NIRHP utilizes a unique reaction switch, α-ketoamide moiety, to turn on a highly specific, sensitive, and rapid fluorescence response toward hydrogen peroxide coupled with the intramolecular charge transfer strategy. Mito-NIRHP is competent to track endogenously produced hydrogen peroxide in both living cells and living animals. In addition, utilizing Mito-NIRHP, overgeneration of hydrogen peroxide during ischemia-reperfusion injury was directly visualized at both cell and organ levels.
Heat-using behavior has a major impact on heating energy in heat-metering systems, and therefore, a better understanding can assist in behavior guidance to reduce energy. The objective of this paper ...was to investigate heat-using behavior, including adjusting heating end valves and operating windows, and identify the main factors affecting the heat-using behavior of households in heat-metering modes. Thirty households were measured and surveyed. The factors influencing heat-using behavior, including outdoor and indoor environmental parameters and time of day, were analyzed. The results are the following: (1) The indoor temperature for heat-metering households was relatively high, up to 24–25 °C (95% confidence interval). (2) The heat-using behavior of households has a lack of rationality: a low proportion of households with adjusted heating end valves, high indoor temperature settings, and more frequent window openings. Improving indoor comfort is the main reason for households to adjust heating end valves, accounting for 79% (95% confidence interval, CI: 71–87%). “Thermostat control valve does not work” is the main reason for households without adjustment, accounting for 63% (95% confidence interval, CI: 53–72%). (3) Time of day and indoor temperature affect active households’ willingness to adjust heating end valves. Time of day, indoor temperature, and outdoor temperature have impacts on opening windows during heating periods.
•No PCM leakage of PCM-concrete thermal storage blocks.•The PCM-concrete blocks achieve good thermal properties and compatibility.•Average specific heat capacities of PCM-concrete increase up to ...41.23%.•Study the effect of boundary conditions on the active PCM-concrete heat storage system.
Phase change material concrete as a new building envelope has been widely used in passive building energy conservation, but less research has been done for it as a heat storage block in an active low-temperature thermal storage system. To enhance the heat storage capacity of PCM-concrete, overcome the PCM leakage problem and reduce the cost of heat storage, clastic light shale ceramsite (CLSC) was used to absorb paraffin to prepare PCM-CLSC aggregate and PCM-concrete thermal storage blocks with different PCM weight percentage (0, 2 wt%, 4 wt% and 6 wt%). The absorption, compatibility, thermal and mechanical properties of PCM-CLSC aggregate and PCM-concrete thermal storage blocks have been tested. To improve the charging and discharge rate, the active thermal storage and release system has been designed. Besides, the study presents the effects of PCM weight percentage and the characteristics of heat transfer fluid (HTF) on the performance of an active thermal storage system. The experimental results show that PCM-CLSC aggregate has good absorption and compatibility. The thermal conductivity and compressive strength of PCM-concrete thermal storage blocks decreased with the increase of PCM weight percentage, and the average specific heat capacity increased by 12.54% (2 wt% PCM), 31.60 (4 wt% PCM) and 41.23% (6 wt% PCM), respectively. Also, by increasing the PCM weight percentage, HTF flow rate and inlet temperature, it is possible to improve the heat storage and release capacity while effectively increasing the heat transfer rate and reducing the thermal resistance.
This article reviews three types of solar-driven short-term low temperature heat storage systems – water tank heat storage, phase change materials heat storage and thermochemical heat storage. The ...objective of this study is to comprehensively compare three heat storage systems, and put forward the future research direction, so as to provide guidance for researchers. This article compares the heat storage principles, research status and key parameters of these three systems, and makes a brief economic assessment to evaluate the possibility and schedule of application. Finally, the future research directions are proposed. This review shows that the performance of the water tank heat storage system is mainly affected by the structural parameters of the water tank. The phase change material heat storage system is more affected by the thermal performance parameters of the material itself. Thermochemical heat storage pays attention to the material thermal performance parameters and the reaction bed structure parameters at the same time. From an economic point of view, water tank heat storage is completely feasible in the global market. The application prospect of phase change material heat storage in moderate climates is obviously stronger than that of tropical climates, while the thermochemical heat storage system can be economically feasible around 2030. The main directions for future studies of the three systems are established such as using two or more water tanks for heat storage, developing cascaded phase change material heat storage system, mathematical model and optimization theory, combining two or three systems for cascaded utilization of solar energy.
•Key parameters of each heat storage system are obviously different.•Economic assessment is used to evaluate the possibility for the applications.•Future research directions based on research status.•The suggested combination system can improve the thermal performance.
This study analyzes graduation theses of undergraduate Japanese majors in China (hereafter referred to as “Japanese majors”) with the aim of probing into how Japanese majors are using citations in ...their academic writing. The results of the survey show the following tendencies: 1) Japanese learners' citation density is low; 2) Japanese learners' citations from less academically published sources, even unknown sources are not rare; 3) Japanese learners tend to use indirect citation rather than direct citation; 4) Many citations with the reference mark of “author’s family name plus publication year” are found, and citations with only annotation or reference serial number are few. Secondary citations are also found in Japanese learners' writing; 5) Japanese learners prefer to use "Noberu" as the citation verb, also with a tendency of overgeneralization of past tense in citation verbs; 6) Japanese learners cite more in the introduction.
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