•Cu-rich phase near grain boundaries has a hexagonal CaCu5-type crystal structure and demonstrates a coherent orientation relationship with the surrounding matrix.•Cu-rich phase inhibits cellular ...structure formation nearby but enhances Cu content in the cell boundary phase at grain boundary regions.•Formation of Cu-rich phase increases non-uniformity of the domain wall pinning field within the magnet, deteriorating the squareness of the demagnetization curve.
The unique cellular structure of Sm2Co17-type magnets is responsible for their outstanding magnetic properties. However, the cell boundary phase around grain boundaries is few, and cannot form a complete cellular structure. This study explores the microstructure and microchemistry of the grain interiors and grain boundary regions in both the solid solution precursor and the final magnet. The Cu-rich phase precipitates around grain boundaries in the solid solution precursor, and it remains present in the final magnet. The Cu-rich phase is not present as a standalone grain boundary phase, rather, it possesses a hexagonal CaCu5-type crystal structure and demonstrates a coherent orientation relationship with the surrounding matrix. The Cu-rich phase inhibits cellular structure formation nearby, while boosting Cu content in the cell boundary phase at the grain boundary regions in the final magnet. The formation of a Cu-rich phase around the grain boundary increases the heterogeneity of the domain wall pinning field in the final magnet, becoming an unfavorable factor for the improvement of the squareness of the demagnetization curve. These discoveries enhance our comprehension of the precipitated phase surrounding the grain boundary and its impact on the cellular structure and magnetic characteristics of the magnet.
Activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g (PPARg) improves insulin sensitivity and inhibits atherosclerosis. Whether PPARg2 Pro12Ala polymorphism affects myocardial infarction is ...not clearly understood. We investigated a possible association of PPARg2 Pro12Ala polymorphism with obesity and myocardial infarction in Han Chinese in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. We included 121 subjects with myocardial infarction and 137 healthy controls in our study. Triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were measured. The following information was recorded for each subject: age, gender, body height, body weight, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure; the body mass index was calculated. PCR-RFLP was used to examine Pro12Ala polymorphism. There were significant differences in clinical characteristics between myocardial infarction patients and healthy controls, except for diastolic blood pressure and triglycerides. The PP, PA/AA genotype frequencies were 88.4 and 11.6% in myocardial infarction patients and 95.6 and 4.4% in controls, respectively (P = 0.031). Individuals with the A allele had a significantly higher risk of myocardial infarction. The A allele was not an independent risk factor for obesity. We conclude that PPARg2 Pro12Ala polymorphisms are associated with increased risk for myocardial infarction in Han Chinese in Hohhot.
AIT-082 (Neotrofin), a hypoxanthine derivative, has been shown to improve memory in both animals and humans. In animals, adrenal hormones modulate the efficacy of many memory-enhancing compounds, ...including piracetam and tacrine (Cognex).
To investigate the role of adrenal hormones in the memory-enhancing action of AIT-082.
Plasma levels of adrenal hormones (corticosterone and aldosterone) in mice were significantly reduced by surgical or chemical (aminoglutethimide) adrenalectomy or significantly elevated by oral administration of corticosterone. The effects of these hormone level manipulations on the memory-enhancing activity of AIT-082 and piracetam were evaluated using a cycloheximide-induced amnesia/passive avoidance model.
As previously reported by others, the memory enhancing action of piracetam was abolished by adrenalectomy. In contrast, the memory enhancement by 60 mg/kg AIT-082 (IP) was unaffected. However, a sub-threshold dose of AIT-082 (0.1 mg/kg, IP) that did not improve memory in control animals did improve memory in adrenalectomized animals. These data suggested that, similar to piracetam and tacrine, the memory enhancing action of AIT-082 might be inhibited by high levels of adrenal hormones. As expected, corticosterone (30 and 100 mg/kg) inhibited the action of piracetam, however no dose up to 100 mg/kg corticosterone inhibited the activity of AIT-082.
These data suggest that while AIT-082 function is not dependent on adrenal hormones, it is modulated by them. That memory enhancement by AIT-082 was not inhibited by high plasma corticosterone levels may have positive implications for its clinical utility, given that many Alzheimer's disease patients have elevated plasma cortisol levels.
To investigate whether apolipoprotein A (apoA)-I glycation and paraoxonase (PON) activities are associated with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus ...(T2DM).
Relative intensity of apoA-I glycation and activities of high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-associated PON1 and PON3 were determined in 205 consecutive T2DM patients with stable angina with (n = 144) or without (n = 61) significant CAD (luminal diameter stenosis ≥ 70 %). The severity of CAD was expressed by number of diseased coronary arteries, extent index, and cumulative coronary stenosis score (CCSS).
The relative intensity of apoA-I glycation was higher but the activities of HDL-associated PON1 and PON3 were lower in diabetic patients with significant CAD than in those without. The relative intensity of apoA-I glycation increased but the activities of HDL-associated PON1 and PON3 decreased stepwise from 1 - to 3 - vessel disease patients (P for trend < 0.001). After adjusting for possible confounding variables, the relative intensity of apoA-I glycation correlated positively, while the activities of HDL-associated PON1 and PON3 negatively, with extent index and CCSS, respectively. At high level of apoA-I glycation (8.70 ~ 12.50 %), low tertile of HDL-associated PON1 (7.03 ~ 38.97U/mL) and PON3 activities (7.11 ~ 22.30U/mL) was associated with a 1.97- and 2.49- fold increase of extent index and 1.73- and 2.68- fold increase of CCSS compared with high tertile of HDL-associated PON1 (57.85 ~ 154.82U/mL) and PON3 activities (39.63 ~ 124.10U/mL), respectively (all P < 0.01).
Elevated apoA-I glycation and decreased activities of HDL-associated PON1 and PON3, and their interaction are associated with the presence and severity of CAD in patients with T2DM.
It is worldwide accepted that lncRNA PTCSC3 is a tumor suppressor in glioma and thyroid cancer, whereas its role in the recurrence of gastric cancer is unknown.
We recruited 80 GC patients (46 males ...and 34 females, 44 to 68 years, 56.3±6.7 years) in our study. Two human GC cell lines AGS and SNU-1 were transfected with PTCSC3 and HOXA11-AS expression vectors. Then, qPCR was used to detect the level of relative mRNA. Both invasion and migration assays were performed to detect the effect of the lncRNA on gastric cancer cell motility.
In the present study, we showed that PTCSC3 was downregulated in plasma of gastric cancer patients than in plasma of healthy controls. Follow-up study indicated that PTCSC3 was further downregulated in patients with distant-recurrence but not in patients with local recurrence only or non-recurrence. LncRNA HOXA11-AS was upregulated in plasma of gastric cancer cells than in plasma of healthy controls and was inversely correlated with PTCSC3 in plasma of gastric cancer patients. PTCSC3 overexpression mediated the downregulation of HOXA11-AS in gastric cancer cells, while HOXA11-AS overexpression failed to significantly affect PTCSC3. PTCSC3 overexpression led to inhibited, while HOXA11-AS overexpression led to promoted migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells. In addition, HOXA11-AS overexpression reduced the effects of PTCSC3 overexpression.
Therefore, lncRNA PTCSC3 alleviates in the postoperative distant recurrence of gastric cancer possible by suppression of HOXA11-AS.
► The magnetic properties of directly cast Nd–Fe–B magnet with higher diameter are improved. ► The microstructure of the directly cast Nd9.5Febal.CoxNb2.5Zr0.5B15 (x=0, 10, 20) magnets is studied ...systematically. ► Higher (BH)max and Hcj could be appeared in Co-doped magnets with larger diameter. ► The amorphous phase is easy to appear at the peripheral region in Co-doped magnets with smaller diameter.
Cylindrical Nd9.5Febal.CoxNb2.5Zr0.5B15 (x=0, 10, 20) magnets with diameter of 0.9–1.5mm have been prepared by directly casting method. TMA and DSC analysis show that doping Co may enhance the glass forming ability and refine the grain size of the directly cast magnets effectively. Nevertheless, the amorphous phase is easily to appear at the peripheral region but not at the interior region, leading to much inhomogeneous microstructure especially when too high Co content (x=20) is added. Magnetic measurements show that higher maximum energy product and coercivity can only be obtained in Co-free magnets with smaller diameter (⩽0.9mm), while higher maximum energy product and coercivity could be appeared in Co-doped magnets (x=10) with larger diameter (1.1–1.3mm in diameter).
PurposeTo investigate the efficacy and safety of microwave ablation (MWA) assisted by ultrasound fusion imaging (FI) for primary and secondary liver cancers with a diameter of 3-7 cm.Patients and ...MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with primary and secondary liver cancers (3-7 cm) who underwent MWA with ultrasound FI assistance in our hospital from April 2020 to May 2022. Technical success, technique efficacy, local tumor progression (LTP), major complication, intrahepatic distant recurrence (IDR), and overall survival (OS) were assessed during the follow-up period. In addition, the ablation results of tumors between the medium-sized group (3.1-5.0 cm) and large-sized group (5.1-7.0 cm) were compared.Results31 patients with 35 primary and secondary liver cancers were treated with MWA assisted by ultrasound FI. Complete ablation was achieved in 34 lesions with a technical success rate of 97.1%. Major complications occurred in 6.5% of patients (2/31), while no ablation-related deaths were reported. The median follow-up time of this study was 24 months (range:10 to 35 months). The technique efficacy rate was 97.1% (34/35), with LTP occurring in three lesions at a rate of 8.8% (3/34). The incidence of IDR was 38.7% (12/31) and the 2-year cumulative OS rate reached 96.7%. Moreover, there were no statistical differences in technique efficacy rate (p=0.286), LTP rate (p=0.328), major complication rate (p=0.503), IDR (p=0.857), and OS (p=0.118) between medium-sized group and large-sized group.ConclusionUltrasound FI-assisted MWA has the potential to be an effective and safe therapeutic strategy for primary and secondary liver cancers ranging from 3-7 cm in size.
To deal with the problem of insufficient labeled data in video object classification, one solution is to utilize additional pairwise constraints that indicate the relationship between two examples, ...i.e., whether these examples belong to the same class or not. In this paper, we propose a discriminative learning approach which can incorporate pairwise constraints into a conventional margin-based learning framework. Different from previous work that usually attempts to learn better distance metrics or estimate the underlying data distribution, the proposed approach can directly model the decision boundary and, thus, require fewer model assumptions. Moreover, the proposed approach can handle both labeled data and pairwise constraints in a unified framework. In this work, we investigate two families of pairwise loss functions, namely, convex and nonconvex pairwise loss functions, and then derive three pairwise learning algorithms by plugging in the hinge loss and the logistic loss functions. The proposed learning algorithms were evaluated using a people identification task on two surveillance video data sets. The experiments demonstrated that the proposed pairwise learning algorithms considerably outperform the baseline classifiers using only labeled data and two other pairwise learning algorithms with the same amount of pairwise constraints.
•Isothermal hydration heat and heat kinetics of cement paste containing mechanically-activated fly ash are analyzed.•Compared with as-received fly ash, mechanically activated fly ash has promoted the ...reaction rate of the fly ash-cement system.•Three different mathematical methods have been adopted to calculate the ultimate hydration heat Qmax of the system.
Fly ash is a widely used supplementary cementitious material in the world. Mechanical activation, as a potential approach, can realize maximum bulk utilization of fly ash. In this study, the isothermal hydration heat flows of cement paste containing fly ash with or without mechanical activation are tested and modelled by Avrami equation, reaction order model and three-parameter exponential function at different stages. The results indicate that addition of 20% as-received fly ash retards the cement hydration at the nucleation and growth stage, because the aluminate ions in the pore solution might decrease heterogeneous nucleation sites of C-S-H and suppress its growth. Moreover, as-received fly ash impairs the reaction rate of the whole system at final tail stage owing to its low heat release. However, compared with as-received fly ash, mechanically activated fly ash has promoted cement hydration at the very early age due to the enhanced filler effect. More surface area supplied by mechanically activated fly ash promotes C-S-H growth and partially offsets the retarding effect of aluminate ions. The reaction rate of the whole cementitious system at the deceleration stage is also promoted by the improvement of pozzolanic reactivity after mechanical activation. Furthermore, three different mathematical calculation approaches have been adopted to calculate the ultimate hydration heat Qmax of the cementitious systems. In spite of different values for Qmax, the consensus can be achieved that mechanical activation towards fly ash can promote the reaction degree of the system.
PDF
