Objective
To evaluate the optimal waiting period for frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) after hysteroscopic polypectomy (HSC-P).
Design
Retrospective cohort.
Setting
University-affiliated hospital.
...Patient(s)
All patients included in this research underwent hysteroscopy before the first FET cycle after whole embryo freezing. A total of 206 patients had undergone HSC-P, and 3681 patients without endometrial polyps were defined as the controls.
Intervention(s)
HSC-P.
Main outcome measure(s)
The HSC-P group was divided into three subgroups based on the time interval between HSC-P and the start of an FET cycle. Subgroup 1 consisted of patients who underwent FET after their next menses, subgroup 2 after two menstrual cycles, and subgroup 3 after three or more menstrual cycles. Demographics, baseline
in vitro
fertilization (IVF) characteristics, and pregnancy outcomes, especially perinatal outcomes after FET were compared among the groups.
Results
There were 137 patients in subgroup 1, 40 in subgroup 2, and 29 in subgroup 3. There were no differences in the baseline characteristics of the three groups. IVF-related data and FET-related data, such as endometrial thickness and ET no. Of embryoes, were similar among the three subgroups. The three subgroups showed no significant differences in implantation rate, biochemical pregnancy rate, abortion rate, clinical pregnancy rate or live birth rate. Besides, There was no significant difference in perinatal outcomes including very preterm delivery, preterm delivery, low birth weight, macrosomia, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, birth weight(g), birth-height(cm)and Apgar Scores.
Conclusion(s)
Compared with FET after their next menses, FET after two or more menstrual cycles after HSC-P does not necessarily produce superior outcomes.
Display omitted
•A new and effective forming way-gradient hot deformation is proposed, a gradient structure from the edge to the center can be obtained.•Grain size changed significantly from the ...center to the edge, and the average value ranges from 6.65 μm to 15.62 μm.•Static and dynamic recrystallization take place successively for the trapezoid sample in the process of gradient hot deformation.
In order to withstand special working conditions, it is of great significance to manufacture turbine disks with a gradient microstructure (disk core with fine and uniform grains and disk edge with coarse grains) along the radial direction. A new and effective forming way-gradient hot deformation is proposed, and a gradient structure from the edge to the center can be obtained. In the present work, the gradient deformation behavior, dynamic recrystallization kinetics, and microstructural evolution of a nickel-based powder metallurgy superalloy are studied by thermal gradient compression. Dynamic recrystallization kinetics of this superalloy is established. Recrystallization fraction increases from 72.6 %–93.6 % because of the gradient deformation degree. Microstructure changes significantly from the center to the edge along the radial direction, and average grain size ranges from 6.65 μm to 15.62 μm. There is a big difference between experimental value and calculated data of recrystallization fraction, which indicates that dynamic and static recrystallization take place in different areas simultaneously. Static recrystallization can coexist with dynamic recrystallization in the trapezoid sample by gradient hot deformation. The difference between experimental and calculated results is the static recrystallization, and the maximum values of static recrystallization fraction is around 30 %. A great number of dynamic recrystallization grains distribute along pre-existing grain boundary, second phases and twin crystal. The main means of static recrystallization nucleation is the bulge of original grain boundaries.
ABSTRACT
Background and objective: Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) has been identified as playing critical roles in fibrosis and is a promising therapeutic target. In a previous study, we ...used a phage display library to develop a humanized single‐chain variable fragment antibody (scFv) against CTGF. In the present study, the protective effect of anti‐CTGF scFv against bleomycin (BL)‐induced pulmonary fibrosis was investigated in mice.
Methods: The expression of α‐smooth muscle actin in human embryonic lung fibroblast (HELF) cells was analysed by western blotting. A mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis was established by tracheal injection of BL (5 mg/kg). Mice received anti‐CTGF scFv (4 mg/kg, three times a week) by i.v. injection. The effects of anti‐CTGF scFv were evaluated by leukocyte counts in BAL fluid, hydroxyproline measurements in lung tissue and pathological examination.
Results: α‐Smooth muscle actin expression was decreased in HELF cells treated with anti‐CTGF scFv. Anti‐CTGF scFv significantly reduced the numbers of inflammatory leukocytes (total and differential count) in BAL fluid, as well as the hydroxyproline content of lung tissue. The severity of alveolitis and fibrosis in the mouse model was markedly attenuated by treatment with anti‐CTGF scFv.
Conclusions: Anti‐CTGF scFv may potentially be developed as a useful inhibitor of pulmonary fibrosis.
Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) plays a critical role in fibrosis. A humanized single‐chain variable fragment antibody (scFv) against CTGF inhibited collagen deposition and the severity of alveolitis and fibrosis in a mouse model. Anti‐CTGF scFv may potentially be developed as a useful inhibitor of pulmonary fibrosis.
The strong spatial nonuniformity of dam soil is a key factor for studying the safety and stability of landslide dams. In this paper, a 500 × 500 × 500 mm cubic model box was made, and the dam soil ...was deposited in it by layered deposition and different sliding angles to investigate the nonuniformity of the deposition. The depositional characteristics and particle size distribution (PSD) variations in different zones of different depositions were analyzed. Furthermore, based on the basic principle of grading entropy, the particle distributions of different depositions using the entropy parameter
A−B
coordinates were discussed. Finally, an index of nonuniformity
N
d
was proposed to quantitatively assess the nonuniformity degree of the deposition. We yielded that as the sliding angle increased, the deposition showed prominent sorting characteristics in the sliding direction. The coarser and finer particles were mainly concentrated in the front and back parts of the deposition, respectively. Compared with the traditional characteristic parameters, the grading entropy is more meticulous for characterizing the PSD curve. In the entropy parameter
A−B
coordinates, the points for the expected uniform deposition are more concentrated, which indicates that the nonuniformity of this deposition is smaller. The points of different zones for the sliding deposition are arch-shaped, and their distribution is more dispersed and directional in these coordinates, which indicates a greater nonuniformity of this deposition. For the sliding deposition, the index of nonuniformity
N
d
of different depositions tends to increase and then decrease with increasing sliding angle. The
N
d
of the deposition made by the sliding angle of 60° is the largest at 0.173. However, that of the expected uniform deposition is only 0.057. This study improves the understanding of spatial nonuniformity and aids the disaster prevention and mitigation of landslide dams.
•A model showing the plant-level operation domain is developed.•A scheduling scheme to improve operational flexibility is proposed.•The adjusting ranges of loads are obtained by particle swarm ...optimization.•The proposed scheme reduces CO2 emissions while meeting heating demand.
The operational flexibility of thermal power plants is important to consume renewable energy generation, especially in the regions where combined heat and power (CHP) units account for a high proportion. Focusing on the relationship between peak-shaving capacity of CHP units and the consumption of renewable energy generation, the problem about operational flexibility of CHP plants is analyzed in this paper. From the perspective of entire CHP plants rather than the renovation of one CHP unit, the problem regarding the operation scheduling without cost or risk is addressed. A plant-level operation domain model is established, which can improve the operational flexibility of CHP plants. The heat and power adjustable ranges of CHP plants were obtained by particle swarm optimization. Also the CHP plant located in northern China was taken as an example. The power load downward adjustment range of four periods in the heating season are 9.21%, 20.44%, 14.09% and 5.31% respectively, compared with the entire plant actual power under the same heat load. Moreover, the operational flexibility of CHP plants can be enlarged by decreasing the pressure of heating extraction. Compared with the entire plant actual operating conditions, the consumption of renewable energy generation could be increased by 268.56 million kWh approximately and about 0.22 million tons CO2 emissions can be reduced per heating season if the reference plant operates with minimum power load constantly.
This paper discusses and studies the importance of Cross Dimensional Subspace Attention for human pose estimation. The Cross Dimensional Subspace Attention module is to realize the interaction ...between the channel and spatial dimensions of the feature map by dimensional transposition and to learn the individual attention of the feature map subspace, to obtain the global dependence of feature in the feature space and strengthen the ignored semantic and spatial information. This paper focuses on the feature fusion of human pose estimation network. In our method, the feature tensor is rotated and partitioned to obtain the cross-dimension interaction information and learn different mapping of features in subspace, which is conducive to multi-scale feature fusion. On the basis of HRNet (High-Resolution Net) backbone network, our training and testing results on the COCO keypoint detection dataset and the MPII dataset show that our method can effectively improve the performance of human pose estimation.
•We propose the Cross Dimensional Subspace Attention module (CDSA).•CDSA enhances channel-spatial interaction by transposing dimensions and individual attention.•CDSA strengthens global feature dependence and emphasizes semantic and spatial details.•Feature Tensor Rotation facilitates cross-dimension interaction for multi-scale fusion.
The programmed cell death-1(PD-1)/PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway is critical to immune homeostasis by promoting regulatory T (Treg) development and inhibiting effector T (such as Th17) cell responses. ...However, the association between the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway and the Treg/Th17 imbalance has not been fully investigated in pre-eclampsia (PE). In this study, we observed an inverse correlation between the percentages of Treg and Th17 cells, and the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 on the two subsets also changed in PE compared with normal pregnancy. We further explored their relationship in vivo using the L-NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME) induced PE-like rat models, also characterized by Treg/Th17 imbalance. Administration of PD-L1-Fc protein provides a protective effects on the pre-eclamptic models, both to the mother and the fetuses, by reversing Treg/Th17 imbalance through inhibiting PI3K/AKT/m-TOR signaling and enhancing PTEN expression. In addition, we also observed a protective effect of PD-L1-Fc on the placenta by reversing placental damages. These results suggested that altered PD-1/PD-L1 pathway contributed to Treg/Th17 imbalance in PE. Treatment with PD-L1-Fc posed protective effects on pre-eclamptic models, indicating that the use of PD-L1-Fc might be a potential therapeutic target in PE treatment.
A thin and uniform Li
3
PO
4
layer was successfully converted on the surface of LiNi
0.5
Mn
1.5
O
4
(LNMO) via H
3
PO
4
pretreatment. H
3
PO
4
was converted to Li
3
PO
4
by reacting with the in situ ...Li
2
CO
3
layer on the surface of LNMO, which was obtained by one-step calcination method based on MOFs. The in situ conversion coating strategy not only improved the tight bonding between the coating layer and the host structure but also effectively enhanced the structural stability and acid corrosion resistance of LNMO. Therein, the 1 wt% Li
3
PO
4
-coated LNMO delivered the discharge specific capacities of 107 mA h g
−1
at 10 C and exhibited a capacity retention ratio of 92.86% after 200 cycles at 2 C. All results demonstrated that the in situ Li
3
PO
4
coating layer is beneficial to improve the cyclic and rate properties of LNMO. This finding provided a simple and effective modification strategy to obtain the cathode materials for high energy density Li-ion batteries.
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•Pd/R-Al2O3 was prepared by the cation-assisted polyol method.•Surface base number on R-Al2O3 tuned the size of Pd nanoclusters on Pd/R-Al2O3.•All surface atoms of Pd nanoclusters ...exhibited the same catalytic activity.•The higher the oxygen mobility, the more the catalytic activity for Pd/R-Al2O3.
Selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BzOH) to benzaldehyde is one of the most important organic transformations. It is vital to explore a stable, economic and highly efficient catalyst. Here, Pd/R-Al2O3 (R = Al(NO3)3/urea molar ratio) was prepared by hydrothermal process followed by cation-assisted polyol method, and utilized for solvent-free aerobic oxidation of BzOH without any additives. Characterization results from TEM, NH3/CO2/O2-TPD and XPS showed that the size of Pd nanoclusters on Pd/R-Al2O3 was controlled by base number on R-Al2O3, and the order of oxygen mobility was Pd/1:6-Al2O3 > Pd/1:7-Al2O3 > Pd/1:8-Al2O3 > Pd/1:9-Al2O3. In the BzOH oxidation, R-Al2O3 as a basic additive could improve the benzaldehyde selectivity, and all surface atoms of Pd nanoclusters displayed the same catalytic activity. Excellent oxygen mobility indicated a high catalytic performance since it accelerated oxygen transfer from gaseous molecular oxygen to the surface of Pd nanoclusters to rapidly regenerate active Pd0 species. Among Pd/R-Al2O3 catalysts, Pd/1:6-Al2O3 exhibited a turnover frequency of 70381 h−1 due to the smallest Pd size and the best oxygen mobility, and good stability after five recycles owing to the strong interaction between Pd0 species and R-Al2O3. Therefore, Pd/R-Al2O3 may be great potential as a promising candidate for numerous catalytic reactions.
Na
2
FePO
4
F is a promising cathode material for sodium ion batteries because of its high capacity, good cyclic stability, and small volume expansion rate. In this paper, Na
2
FePO
4
F samples with ...different microstructures were synthesized by hydrothermal reaction with three different solvents and carbon coating process. The structures of the synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning/transmission electron microscopy, and their electrochemical properties were tested. Based on the test results, a reasonable explanation is given for the reason leading to the morphology difference of the samples. The NFPF-EG sample synthesized with 30% ethylene glycol and 70% deionized water as the mixed solvent show the best electrochemical performance (112.3 mAh g
−1
at the rate of 0.1 C and 93.2% capacity retention rate after 200 cycles at 1 C). The results of cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectrum suggest that NFPF-EG sample has small irreversible polarization and high conductivity, which is attributed to its uniform microscopic morphology and small particle size to shorten the transport path of Na
+
and electrons.
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