325 research outputs found
Clinical Use of Aspirin in Treatment and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), principally heart disease and stroke, is the leading cause of death for both males and females in developed countries. Aspirin is the most widely used and tested antiplatelet drug in CVD, and it is proven to be the cornerstone of antiplatelet therapy in treatment and prevention of CVD in clinical trials in various populations. In acute coronary syndrome, thrombotic stroke, and Kawasaki's disease, acute use of aspirin can decrease mortality and recurrence of cardiovascular events. As secondary prevention, aspirin is believed to be effective in acute coronary syndrome, stable angina, revascularization, stroke, TIA, and atrial fibrillation. Aspirin may also be used for patients with a high risk of future CVD for primary prevention, but the balance between benefits and the possibility of side effects must be considered
An Open Source Testing Tool for Evaluating Handwriting Input Methods
This paper presents an open source tool for testing the recognition accuracy
of Chinese handwriting input methods. The tool consists of two modules, namely
the PC and Android mobile client. The PC client reads handwritten samples in
the computer, and transfers them individually to the Android client in
accordance with the socket communication protocol. After the Android client
receives the data, it simulates the handwriting on screen of client device, and
triggers the corresponding handwriting recognition method. The recognition
accuracy is recorded by the Android client. We present the design principles
and describe the implementation of the test platform. We construct several test
datasets for evaluating different handwriting recognition systems, and conduct
an objective and comprehensive test using six Chinese handwriting input methods
with five datasets. The test results for the recognition accuracy are then
compared and analyzed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 11 tables. Accepted to appear at ICDAR 201
Multifunctional gold nanostar conjugates for tumor imaging and combined photothermal and chemo-therapy
Uniform gold nanostars (Au NS) were conjugated with cyclic RGD (cRGD) and near infrared (NIR) fluorescence probe (MPA) or anti-cancer drug (DOX) to obtain multi-functional nanoconstructs, Au-cRGD-MPA and Au-cRGD-DOX respectively. The NIR contrast agent Au-cRGD-MPA was shown to have low cytotoxicity. Using tumor cells and tumor bearing mice, these imaging nanoparticles demonstrated favorable tumor-targeting capability mediated by RGD peptide binding to its over-expressed receptor on the tumor cells. The multi-therapeutic analogue, Au-cRGD-DOX, integrates targeting tumor, chemotherapy and photo-thermotherapy into a single system. The synergistic effect of photo-thermal therapy and chemotherapy was demonstrated in different tumor cell lines and in vivo using S180 tumor-bearing mouse models. The viability of MDA-MB-231 cells was only 40 % after incubation with Au-cRGD-DOX and irradiation with NIR light. Both tail vein and intratumoral injections showed Au-cRGD-DOX treated mice exhibiting the slowest tumor increase. These results indicate that the multifunctional nanoconstruct is a promising combined therapeutic agent for tumor-targeting treatment, with the potential to enhance the anti-cancer treatment outcomes
Effects of Tert-Butylhydroquinone on Intestinal Inflammatory Response and Apoptosis following Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can induce intestinal inflammatory response and mucosal injury. Antioxidant transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) has been shown in our previous studies to prevent oxidative stress and inflammatory response in gut after TBI. The objective of this study was to test whether tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ), an Nrf2 inducer, can protect against TBI-induced intestinal inflammatory response and mucosal injury in mice. Adult male ICR mice were randomly divided into three groups: (1) sham + vehicle group, (2) TBI + vehicle group, and (3) TBI + tBHQ group (n = 12 per group). Closed head injury was adopted using Hall's weight-dropping method. Intestinal mucosa apoptosis and inflammatory-related factors, such as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), were investigated at 24 h after TBI. As a result, we found that oral treatment with 1% tBHQ prior to TBI for one week markedly decreased NF-κB activation, inflammatory cytokines production, and ICAM-1 expression in the gut. Administration of tBHQ also significantly attenuated TBI-induced intestinal mucosal apoptosis. The results of the present study suggest that tBHQ administration could suppress the intestinal inflammation and reduce the mucosal damage following TBI
Chiral symmetry breaking for deterministic switching of perpendicular magnetization by spin-orbit torque
Symmetry breaking is a characteristic to determine which branch of a
bifurcation system follows upon crossing a critical point. Specifically, in
spin-orbit torque (SOT) devices, a fundamental question arises: how to break
the symmetry of the perpendicular magnetic moment by the in-plane spin
polarization? Here, we show that the chiral symmetry breaking by the DMI can
induce the deterministic SOT switching of the perpendicular magnetization. By
introducing a gradient of saturation magnetization or magnetic anisotropy,
non-collinear spin textures are formed by the gradient of effective SOT
strength, and thus the chiral symmetry of the SOT-induced spin textures is
broken by the DMI, resulting in the deterministic magnetization switching. We
introduce a strategy to induce an out-of-plane (z) gradient of magnetic
properties, as a practical solution for the wafer-scale manufacture of SOT
devices.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
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